Chapter 22: Everything Stays
"Do you know what your sin is Mal?"
"Ah Hell... I'm a fan of all seven. But right now... I'm gonna have to go with wrath."
-Serenity
I nearly burst in the reception room, closing the door quickly behind me and darting towards the closet where Kyoya had 'permitted' me to put my weapons and supplies. Kyoya gave me a blank look from the desk, and Kusakabe gave me a strange look from his place beside his boss.
"Preparing already?" Fon asked calmly from his position on the couch, Lichi sitting comfortably in his hair. I sent him a grin.
"Call it a hunch," I said, moving my head back to check my stuff, pulling a few select items from the bag, "but I have a feeling that the battles are going to start soon."
"Oh?" He said, smiling slightly. I pulled my shirt up, untucking it from my skirt and wrestling it off of me quickly, throwing it next to my bag. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Tetsu stiffen and go slightly pink. Kyoya remained placid, however, simply giving me an unimpressed, almost disappointed look.
"What," Kyoya question lethargically, "are you doing?" I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to fling my shirt at him.
"I have clothes on underneath," I informed them, causing Kusakabe to sigh in relief. I slipped off skirt as well, revealing shorts. I didn't want to waste time putting on the pants or the boots that Dayita gave me, so the top will have to do. I pulled my duffle bag completely out of the closet.
"You're staying here, yeah?" I addressed Kyoya as he watched with interest. He nodded once. "Good," I breathed out, relieved, "because I have my own prey I'm going after. I wanted to be sure to stay out of your way." I quickly threw up my hair after getting equipped, checking my weapons and boxes one more time before approaching the window. Both of our watches beeped loudly as I adjusted the rings on my finger.
"One minute remaining until battle commencement!'
"Good timing, Cloud," Fon allowed, a suspicious glint in his eyes, but smiling none the less. He trusted me, I noted, after all.
"Ah," I hummed, apprehension getting to me as the watch counted down. I opened the window, turning to Fon, Kyoya, and Tetsu. "I'm off. Ciao!"
Before I could stop myself, I decided on flooding my body with adrenaline, in order to stop logic from convincing me what I was about to do was crazy. I knew exactly who I was fighting, if the small sliver of the memory was still correct.
I hit the ground running, and made my way out of the school grounds, heading at full speed towards my destination. Glancing down at my watch as it reached zero, I was relieved to see ten minutes on the watch as the watch itself pronounced the time limit.
"Thank god," I muttered, reaching up and using Jian's ring to cover it with my bamboo. I narrowed my eyes, moving to the weapons at my hip as I slid to a stop coming around the corner, nearly running into a figure running the opposite way. My eyes widened, recognizing him, only slightly younger since last time I had seen him.
"Nikita Cavallone…" Kikyo muttered, coming to a stop as well, and tensing. I glanced down, seeing he had a watch on as well.
"Where'd he go?!" A rough voice yelled out as Zakuro came running from behind Kikyo. His eyebrows furrowed as he saw me.
"The Cavallone brat?" He muttered, nearly sliding to a stop, and barely missing barreling into his teammate.
They stared at me. Kikyo's eyes flickered to my wrist, seeing the bamboo. He smirked, looking back over at me.
"Oh-ho?" he said, shifting into a more secure stance, "it seems you're participating in the battles as well." I smiled a bit awkwardly, my hand wrapping around the handle of a weapon on my hip.
"Oi, isn't she on our allied team?" Zakuro asked, looking over at Kikyo. The man hesitated, then turned back to me for confirmation. I was considering using this to my advantage, but our conversation was interrupted.
"Hm? What's this?" A familiar voice drawled, sending shivers up my spine. Kikyo's eyes narrowed and Zakuro growled, looking over at Mukuro.
"And here I thought we lost you," Kikyo muttered icily, switching his attention from me to Mukuro.
"How convenient," Mukuro said, staring right at me, adjusting strange gloves on his hand, "to have all my enemies in one place."
"If you're thinking about using illusions," I warned him, keeping my stance, "then you better have faith in your combat skills. You know that your tricks won't work on me anymore." I narrowed my eyes, seeing that my words simply amused him.
"Oh," he said, the glint in his eyes making me uncomfortable, "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
Squalo smirked, watching as Enma's defense faltered and he was pushed back further. His breathing already labored, and his body already littered with injuries, it wouldn't be long before they had him right where they wanted. He scowled, glancing down at his watch noting the time.
"Voi! Bel!" He snapped, calling the attention of the blonde prince, "hurry it up!" Belphegor grinned in response and prepped his knives, but hesitated, turning his head back slightly. Squalo tensed as well, sensing, and hearing three others coming towards them at an alarming pace. Squalo's eyes widened slightly, recognizing the two men easily, but he was most surprised at the familiar girl heading the group.
"You just had to piss him off, didn't you?!" Zakuro yelled, sending a glare at Nikita. She took on an offended front.
"Me? You're the one that dared him to make lava!" She hotly reminded him, then added, "I lost my fucking shoes for fuck's sake!"
"Shut up! I only said that because I forgot the watch would get destroyed!"
She scowled, but then noticed who they were approaching. She increased her speed, her hand going behind her back and bring out two sickles, connected by a chain. Zakura and Kikyo shared a look, before splitting up; Zakuro blocking Lussuria's kick, while Kikyo went for higher ground, occupying Belphegor as the teal-haired man jumped on the platform the prince was standing on. Cloud swung her chain-sickles skillfully, cutting away Bel's wires, and approaching Enma, whose eyes widened in surprise as she nearly latched onto to him.
"Enma!" She called hurriedly, "Gravity thing, now!"
"Nik-"
He was cut off, looking in fear from the way the three came, an impressive wave of lava approaching them. He quickly held his arms up, activating his flames and redirecting the lava around the two as it approached. Zakuro and Lussuria broke apart quickly, retreating to the crates as Kikyo joined his teammate, having managed to push away from Belphegor as well.
Squalo narrowed his eyes, and immediately set to attacking Kikyo, breaking away from his teammate once again. Enma sighed in relief, releasing his gravity orb and looking around at the cooling lava. Nikita immediately looked over at him, frowning as she took his in injuries.
"Are you okay?" she asked, the genuine worry in her eyes throwing him off. Her expression however, changed drastically in a mere second. He gasped slightly, feeling Nikita roughly pulled him back, pulling out two bayonets out of the holders attached to her legs, just in time to meet Mukuro's trident.
He was allowed to smirk down at her for a millisecond before she began shooting, barely grazing his nose as he leaned back. He grimaced and retreated, creating a thick wall from his gloves as she began shooting at him. Once the distance was created, the girl grabbed Enma once more and released her box weapons; the giant panda immediately sending shoots of bamboo at Levi's sting ray, forcing its owner to jump off, and Kashi tackling Bel's storm ferret as it tried to approach. Nikita pushed Enma down and to the side, pulling daggers from the chain on belt, and throwing them down. The bamboo encased them, just as knives were embedded into the outer layer.
Enma squinted his eyes, the lighting having decreased drastically. He could see the girl's hand moving, and he opened his mouth to question her, to thank her, to just say something, but nearly screamed in pain after she stabbed something into his leg. His cry turned into gagging almost as he bent over, pain searing throughout his entire body. He blinked, breathing heavily, and slowly realizing that he was no longer feeling pain.
He looked down at himself as she retracted the bamboo, light hitting him suddenly. He patted down his torso, looking up at her in surprise and grabbing the small, now empty, vial that she had stabbed into his thigh. He felt a bit more tired than before, but physically, he was much better.
"You healed me," he said. She barely looked back at him, sending a playful wink, then shot forward again. Enma blinked, and just for a moment sat there, watching her fight, watching her battle. His eyes widened slightly, watching as she pulled out the chain-sickles once again, throwing herself in the battle swarming around them.
He gazed at her as she scowled, barring her weapons against Mukuro's trident, his red eye flaming strangely. She ducked suddenly, Zakuro throwing a punch over her head. Using this opportunity, she wrapped the chain around the man's wrist, putting pressure around his watch, and shattering it, shocking Enma as the small girl threw the large man, hitting Levi and Lussuria both as they attempted to interfere with her battle. Not even missing a beat, she tightened the chain she had recently released Zakuro's wrist from into a firm line, blocking Mukuro's trident again.
And despite the scowl, despite every part of her in this instance being robust and rough, and strong,
he couldn't help but think of her as beautiful.
"Enma! Watch out!" Skull yelled suddenly. He blinked, then quickly brought his arms up, deflecting the knives Belphegor had thrown at him. He glanced down at his watch, realizing there was only about twenty seconds left on the time. He looked over, watching as Nikita and Mukuro continued to fight, observing their angry, almost rage filled expression on Nikita's part. Both moved with extreme skill, and stopped with that same skill as the watch beeped loudly, signaling the end of the battle.
The two froze immediately, the blade of one of Nikita's sickles a centimeter away from Mukuro's neck, and the tip of Mukuro's trident almost penetrating her chest. The stared at each other tensely, taking in their situation, then broke apart suddenly, almost startling their observer.
"What," she hissed, glaring at him, almost offended, "the fuck, Mukuro? Did you just try to stab me through the chest?"
"Oh?" He shot back, nearly sneering, "and you weren't trying to take off my head just then?"
"Look," she threw her sickle up harshly, pointing the weapon at him again, "you know as well as I do, I can never compete if I don't aim to kill. And you owe me a fucking shoe," she said, shaking her bare foot in emphasis, "for that shitty lava stunt you pulled."
Enma stared at them as they continued their conversation, getting more heated and slipping into Italian, most likely without meaning to. Skull ran up to Enma, but slid to a stop, watching the interaction.
He would never have guessed Mukuro to get so heated, he noted, but it seemed as if the girl knew the exact buttons to push. Unfortunately, the opposite was true as well. Enma stiffened, looking over and stepping away as the Varia regrouped, near him. Enma looked around, noticing that Kikyo and Zakuro had left before the battle officially ended, Kikyo most likely putting the protection of his watch in priority. The blonde prince whistled loudly and looked at the argument with a large grin.
"Looks like the princess is really going at it," he said after snickering, his tone almost proud.
"Nikita really did shine, didn't she?" Lussuria said happily, clapping his hands together, "I'm so proud!" Squalo stared at Mukuro and Nikita as they continued their arguments, not understanding what they were arguing about, but catching the name 'Hannah' several times throughout it. He raised an eyebrow, not having known about the girl's relationship with the illusionist, or even that she had a relationship with him.
"Bastard!" Nikita said suddenly in Japanese, grabbing the front of Mukuro's shirt and pulling him down to her level.
"Ah! That won't do at all!" A familiar voice warned, calling the attention of everyone present. The man who had given them the watches appeared suddenly on one of the half-finished buildings above, cupping his hands to carry his voice across the distance. "If representatives fight outside of the allotted battle times, they lose-woose-hoose!" He informed them.
Nikita clicked her tongue, and promptly released Mukuro's shirt. He stepped away from the girl, straightening his attire.
"Feel better?" He said sarcastically, composing himself quickly. She crossed her arms, and turned abruptly, flicking him off nonchalantly.
"Fuck off, Mukuro," she told him with a huff. However, something was a different; there was a slight change. The silent exchange, a response of 'actually, yes' was passed between the two. The physical confrontation, this harsh exchange, even though the two of them would not admit it was this point, had brought a little bit more of an understanding. But that, however, was a long ways from forgiveness. And yet, they both would soon understand, sharing one more look before the illusionist retreated, was a small step.
To others, Mukuro disappeared with a smirk, and a flourish of mist. To Nikita, however, he frowned, looking back at her once more before simply walking away, completely human.
She smiled awkwardly as Bel threw an arm around her after she had called Kashi and Jian back to her hand. The prince grinned broadly at her.
"I'll admit, you surprised me princess," he said, "you've been training a lot, haven't you?"
"The Giegue's training definitely wasn't for nothing," she said, laughing a bit, relieved. She bumped the blonde prince lightly, and he pushed back playfully, breaking them apart before clapping their hands together. Completely different, Enma noted, from her personality in battle. He felt awkward suddenly, along with a strange pang, seeing her causally interact with the people she had just been fighting (the people she had saved him from).
"Voi, brat!" Squalo yelled out, stepping forward, "So Reborn thinks he can go against us, huh? I shouldn't even have to remind you how fucking stupid of an idea that is," he warned her with a malicious smirk. Instead of fear, however, the girl seemed exasperated more than anything. Skull perked up from beside Enma, where he had been making sure his sole representative was okay.
"So Reborn decided to help after all?!" Skull exclaimed, extremely surprised. Nikita sighed, resisting the urge to smack her forehead.
"I'm not on fucking Reborn's team," she hissed, whipping around to face the Arcobaleno, and leaning down, almost menacingly. It must have been, considering he squeaked and hid behind Enma. Nikita sighed, and backed off, still clearly irritated. She recalled the bamboo that covered her watch, holding it up so everyone could see the letters printed on it.
"I'm on my master's team of course," I said, tiredly, then muttered, "why the hell do people just assume I'm on Reborn's team?!" The Varia stared at her for a second, as if none of them had considered that thought. Bel hummed thoughtfully, folding his arms behind his head.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," he noted. Nikita's expression deadpanned.
"You guess?" She repeated.
"Your brother is fighting for Reborn's team, isn't he?" Levi pointed out. Her head whipped to him, her eyes narrowed.
"I don't," she repeated, stamping her bare foot, "do every fucking thing my brother does!"
"Well," Lussuria defended a bit guiltily, seeing the girl's expression, "it wasn't that big of an assumption to make, since you are friends with those kids." Nikita groaned, rubbing her temples, and then shook her head.
"Whatever," she turned suddenly back to Enma and putting a hand up, "I've got to deal with something anyway," she grabbed Enma's arm and pulled him up, along with grabbing Skull's helmet, easily lifting the Arcobaleno.
"I've got to talk to you two," she said bluntly, being much more gentle with Enma and pulling him to where he was walking beside her, their arms looped. He blinked, realizing how close she had pulled him. A light blush spread across his face, going unnoticed by Nikita.
"Hey!" Skull called, waving his hands and feet in defiance, "let me down you bitch!"
"I'm sure I'll run into you guys later," Nikita addressed the Varia, "and you might run into my teammate as well," she added before bidding them goodbye. "Ciao."
"Teammate?" Levi repeated, putting his hand on his chin as he watched them exit the construction grounds.
"I wonder who else the storm Arcobaleno would ask," Lussuria wondered aloud, titling his head slightly.
"Whoever it is," Bel chided, smiling, "is wearing the boss watch. The princess didn't have it on, after all."
"We're done here," Squalo said suddenly, causing the other three to look over at him. The commander turned on his heel wordlessly, causing Lussuria and Levi to share a look. Bel frowned, then shrugged it off, following in step.
Squalo frowned, thinking back to the battle, and recalling his intense focus watching Nikita fight. He would need, he decided, to talk to the boss about this. After all, he figured, this was something he had been considering for a while.
"Enma, there you are!" Adel called out, picking up her speed as she saw him round the corner. She stopped however, seeing the figure beside him. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and her hand hovered over the edge of her skirt.
"Nikita Cavallone." The way she said the name almost sounded like an accusation. Adel quickly took in the girl's appearance, seeing that she was slightly injured and scuffed up looking, along with the amount of weapons on the girl, including a few visible box weapons attached to the belt at her hips. Adel raised an eyebrow, noting that the girl was barefoot, and was holding just one shoe in her hand. The girl sighed in acknowledgement, rolling her eyes.
"I'm out," she said before anything else could happen. She held up her hands (and her one shoe, consequently), and began walking backwards before turning around, "I've had enough of this kind of shit for one day, thank you very much."
Adel stepped forward, and opened her mouth to object, but Enma quickly grabbed her arm before anything could happen.
"Wait, Adel!" he called, "Nikita helped me and Skull!"
"What?" She then took the time to look over Enma's appearance, seeing that his clothes were cut and beat up looking, but Enma looked mostly fine. Battle-worn, she realized, and then turned her harsh gaze on Skull, who stiffened in response.
"I felt your flames earlier," she accused, looking back at Enma, "and I thought it was my imagination, however…" he eyes narrowed, taking his clothes as proof, "you were fighting, weren't you?" Enma nodded.
"It's the battles I was telling you about earlier! I was fighting the Varia, and th-"
"The Varia!" Adel exclaimed, going a bit cold. She immediately grabbed Enma, looking him over for injuries. "Are you hurt?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Enma said, uncomfortable with her prying, "Nikita saved me!"
"She what?"
"I was going to step in myself!" Skull inputted proudly, then deflated a bit, "but… but, that bitch totally stole my moment! And then she had the guts to pull a favor from it!" He said, crossing his arms. Enma looked over, smiling softly down at Skull.
"It doesn't seem like much," Enma reminded him.
"Says you!" Skull pointed at him in accusation, "you don't have to do anything! It's all me!"
"She's participating in the battles?" Adel repeated, eyes narrowing, bringing the conversation back on subject, hiding her anger, now knowing that the girl had used Enma (judging from what they were saying). Enma's smile dropped, and he nodded.
"Yeah, she's on Team Fon. Apparently, that's her master…?" He trailed off, looking at Skull for confirmation. The baby shrugged and huffed, angry at being ignored.
"And you decided to go ahead and fight alone?!" Adel asked, becoming a bit angry once again. Enma looked away, a bit ashamed, knowing that he was worrying her.
"Hey, I was willing to risk my life for Enma, you bitch! And I would have too, if I got the chance!" Skull shouted, reminding her of his almost-noble deed. Adel sighed, looking over at Skull before glancing back at her boss in thought, considering all of the information she had just been given.
"The battles are still going on, yes?" She asked quietly. Enma's eyes widened, and he nodded quickly. "Fine," she said curtly, before giving Enma a softer look, "if you insist on battling and putting yourself in danger, then all of us in the Shimon Family will officially represent Skull… I guess," she added, giving Skull an unimpressed look. He blinked, shocked.
"Eh? Really?!"
"Are you serious?!" Enma asked.
"Your family needs to be your side," she said firmly, and, she thought to herself, I cannot allow Nikita Cavallone to go freely after using Enma like this. "I can't have you in a situation like that again."
"Adel…" Enma said, then smiled brightly, looking back at Skull. "We did it Skull!" Skull cheered childishly as Enma laughed at him. Adel let out an exasperated sigh, before noticing something about her boss.
"Enma, are you okay?" she said, shocking him by putting her hand on her forehead, "you feel a little warm," she noted with a frown, then added, "and you look more pink than usual." Enma paused, confused, then he suddenly realized why he was in that state, thinking back to a certain girl who had saved him. This, naturally, caused him to become even redder.
"I-it's nothing, Adel!" He said a little too quickly, looking away, embarrassed. He coughed, as an attempt to cover his reaction, and then reaffirmed a shy, soft smile, quieter. "Nothing at all…."
"You look like you had fun."
I met my master's eyes with a half-hearted glare, shutting the door behind me and leaning against it. I raised my eyebrow, looking over at Kyoya, noticing his extremely pissed off aura. I looked over at Tetsu, standing near the desk. He shook his head in warning.
"What did you accomplish in the ten minutes we were given?" Fon asked, completely ignoring the tense feeling in the room.
"First," I said, treading carefully, and trying my best to avoid invoking Kyoya's wrath, "what did you guys do?" Kyoya tensed slightly, moving his head to glare at me.
"Ah," Fon said, a knowing glint in his eyes, realizing that I was trying to skirt around his nephew, "Well, we remained here, as you know, and ran into some of Reborn's representatives. Kyoya easily took out Sasagawa Ryohei, but was subdued by Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi. They managed to escape with a creative use of rain flames."
I opened my mouth slightly in surprise, but quickly closed it, seeing Kyoya's head snap to Fon, angry that he would repeat it out loud.
"They used weak, herbivore tactics," Kyoya nearly spat as an excuse.
"Your turn, Nikita," Fon placidly reminded me, then added, with a knowing smile, "You should be honest with your teammates, after all." I blinked, meeting Kyoya's eyes as they shifted over to me.
"Well," I started a bit nervously, "I kind of, maybe," I said, scratching the back of my head and looking away, "was involved in a full out battle royale?" Kyoya's eyes narrowed dangerously, demanding me to continue without having to vocalize it.
"It was the Varia, some of Team Uni, I kind of helped out Skull to pull a favor," Fon raised his eyebrows slightly at this, but I continued, almost wincing at the last name, but knowing that the outcome would be worse if I didn't say anything and he found out, "and Mukuro Rokudo."
Kyoya stood suddenly, fuming. He sent one last look at me before storming out, leaving the door open behind him. Tetsu sighed, slumping slightly.
"Oh my," Fon muttered, eyebrows rising slightly, staring at the door. I groaned loudly, slumping and moving my hands over my face. I moved dejectedly to the couch and plopped down beside my master.
"I better follow him…" Tetsu noted, walking to the door, nodding to us and then closing it gently.
"He's a child, I swear," I muttered, voice muffled by my hands.
"He just needs time to cool off," Fon assured me, "my sister was just like him when she was younger."
"Hm?" I lifted my head, looking over at my master curiously, "really?"
"They're extremely similar," Fon admitted, nodding softly.
"Huh," I noted, sitting up then leaning back on the couch, "I never really thought he would take after his mom. But, that reminds me…" I trailed off, then went with my resolve, "you're still staying at his house, right?" I asked, looking over almost nervously, my hand moving to the pocket of my jacket, feeling the soft velvet of the bag. His yes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Yes, of course," he replied coolly, "why do you ask?"
"Can you…" I paused, then refurbished, "I need you to trust me."
"You're my student," he reminded me with a soft smile, "and currently, you're risking your life for my sake. Of course I trust you." I let a nervous sigh, then laughed.
"Well that's great," I relented, clapping my hands together, "because after this stunt, I'm pretty sure I'll lose Kyoya's trust completely!"
"You wouldn't believe the day I've had," I said tiredly as I shut the door and leaned against it. My eyes narrowed, not seeing her at first when I surveyed the room.
I moved forward quickly, and going to her, having noticed the trembling top of her head on the other side of the bed farthest from the door. I fell to the ground in front of her figure, leaning against the side of the bed. My eyes narrowed, taking in her appearance, regretting letting her not go to school today, regretting not stepping in earlier instead of allowing her to try to deal with this herself.
She was paler than I've ever seen her, and shivering, weak, breathing raggedly. I scooped her up, holding back a wince, realizing how light she was.
"Chrome," I said, laying her down gently, hands moving to my gloves as soon as I knew she was alive and breathing, "You've got to talk to me, okay? I need to keep you talking." Her eye shifted from the ceiling to me, echoed with sadness. I bit my lip, again feeling the lack of vital organs in her body once again.
"Why do you keep checking?" She asked in a soft, deflated whisper, causing my heart to sink, "You know… you know you won't be able to feel anything. You won't find anything."
I wavered uncertainly over her, then my hand fell, going to hold her own. I squeezed it lightly, mirroring her expression as I looked her in the eye.
"I have to try," I told her softly, determined, "I have to at least do something."
"I see that you've calmed down." Hibari narrowed his eyes only slightly, looking over at his uncle, sitting comfortably on his couch. He inclined his neck, turning away and entering the kitchen, running a hand through his damp hair then moving to put the boss watch back onto his wrist.
He hesitated, before touching it, something seeming off at first.
"You really shouldn't be so angry with her," Fon's voice broke through, causing Hibari to snap out of his hesitation and secure the watch on his wrist. "I'm sure that Nikita would have loved to switch places with you during the battle," the martial artist said with a twinge of humor, "but it would be even more beneficial if the two of you worked together. After all, you are the only two representatives on my team."
"I don't need you to preach to me," Hibari said disdainfully. Fon raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Preaching? I would hardly ca-" The two stiffened, a voice coming from both of their watches.
"Well done everyone. This announcement is coming from all the participants of the representative battle's watches. I am the proprietor of the 'Representative Battle of the Rainbow', Checker-face."
Hibari noted, from the corner of his eye, how Fon tensed at the voice, the air around him growing cold. Although it was unfamiliar to him, this man was definitely someone his uncle was familiar with, information which Hibari stored away.
"Every future battle will occur exactly like this one did. And after each battle, I will report each team's ranking. A hologram will be broadcast out from your wristwatches with this information."
Hibari blinked as the man's words came true, scanning the content on the screen projected in front of him. He raised an eyebrow, surprised to see two instead of one next to their team and the number they defeated.
"It seems Nikita took someone out as well," Fon commented, looking at his own screen, "and that we're ahead of the others. The only other teams who have defeated anyone are Team Verde and Team Uni."
Hibari hummed in acknowledgement, moving on from the watch and back to his objective of getting food.
"This brings back my point, Kyoya," Fon called, looking away as the image disappeared, "if you and Nikita work together next time, the two of you could take many more out. It would be wise for you two to fight together." Hibari's eyes narrowed.
"I don't need help," he said coldly, "especially from a soft-hearted creature like her."
"Oh?" Fon asked, tilting his head slightly. Hibari frowned, not liking the glint in his uncle's eyes.
"Is that so?" Fon questioned, mostly to himself as he turned away from his nephew, "I'd like to think the two of you would be quite compatible."
I kindly thanked the nurse and left soon after they relayed all information I already knew. No organs, not knowing exactly what was wrong; everything that I could have told them with one swipe of my gloves. Then again, there was nothing I could do either.
"Not yet, at least," I muttered, my fists tightening as I stepped out of the hospital, thinking back to my notebook. I opened my phone as I walked, sending a quick text to Gabriela, hoping she could get back to me soon. I tried to sidestep the person walking towards me, but was surprised when they stepped in front of me. I moved again and looked up in irritation when they mirrored me. I blinked, my expression falling after seeing a familiar smile and the crinkle of his purple tattoo.
"You really shouldn't be looking down at your phone when you walk, Cloud," Byakuran reprimanded lightly, "you never know who you're going to walk into."
"And yet," I said, sighing as he tilted his head in amusement, "I'm not surprised that I ran into you."
"You look a glum," he noted idly, his eyes getting a bit more serious, "you wanna talk?" I leaned back then forward again on the balls of my feet, then nodded.
"I could go for some coffee," I admitted. He smiled brightly and linked his arm with mine, pulling me forward and into step with him.
"I see," he stated, leaning back in his seat while I leaned forward, now sipping on my drink after giving him an explanation, "Chrome isn't doing well, huh? Does Mukuro know?"
"He's the problem," I said bluntly, almost scowling, "it's because he abandoned her that this happened."
"But there's nothing you can do about it, Cloud," he reminded he lightly, grabbing another crème puff off of the heap on our table, "you're going to have to let Chrome and Mukuro work this out themselves."
I grimaced, thinking of the last time Mukuro had handled something of this nature.
"I can't trust him to do that," I admitted sadly, putting my crossed arms on the table and leaning forward, "not after what he did." He shrugged indifferently.
"Then trust Chrome," he pointed out, "and you of all people should know that people change. I'm sure Mukuro had a reason for what he did. It could be a bad reason, of course," he admitted with a roll of his shoulders, "but there's always a chance that it's a good one, right? Besides, people change. They learn. I'm a prime example of that. Mukuro might be regretting what he did right now."
"Pretty sure he's not regretting trying to stab me through the chest," I pointed out with a huff, letting my head fall onto my crossed arms. "But," I admitted, "I guess I did kind of almost take his head off."
"Cloud! You're so mean!" Byakuran childishly scolded, "And you took out Zakuro's watch," Byakuran complained, frowning and popping another crème puff in his mouth.
"Honestly," I pointed out, holding up a finger, "that was a total accident. He shouldn't have tried to get in my fight."
"Kikyo did tell me about the gloves," Byakuran mused, "and that could be big trouble. The rest of Verde's team managed to get Daisy's watch with their teamwork, and, Daisy isn't too good at protecting something like that, since he doesn't have much regard for his own body," he finished with a small smile and shrug, thinking fondly of his teammate. "But we're having Tsuna's team over tomorrow; we'll let them know about the gloves then."
"Those gloves may be a pain," I noted, hand going to my coffee and taking a sip, "but he still had to extend a lot of his energy when using them. Even more so when fighting me," I added, "since I can't see his illusions. But those real illusions were troublesome, to put it fucking lightly," I concluded with a scrunch of my nose. Byakuran laughed lightly and hummed.
"Kikyo also told me about the lava," he chided, "I bet that was fun!"
"Surprisingly," I deadpanned, "it was not."
"But you did manage to get the favor, didn't you?" he reminded me with slightly narrowed eyes, then brightened, clapping his hands together, "Which means the plan is a go!"
"Just be sure everything goes smoothly on your side," I sighed leaning back with my drink, "that's all you have to do, anyways. Meanwhile, I'll just try not to get killed."
"You've been doing a wonderful job so far, Cloud," Byakuran complimented with a smile, "but I've been wondering," he started titling his head and looking over the small decorative railing, the only thing separating us from the busy sidewalk, "what's your end game here? You told me that you don't have all the memories of the plot, so you're not fighting for that."
"I'm actually surprised you're still helping me after I told you that," I admitted casually. He shrugged, smirking.
"Really, it's the least I could do after killing you. Making amendments, you could say. Also," He let out a small laugh, folding his arms behind his head, "it's fun, right? But enough on what I get out of this," he backtracked, unfolding his arms and leaning forward again, "what's your motive, Nikita?"
"Honestly?" I sighed, my shoulders feeling a bit heavy, "at this point, I'm just fighting for myself. For master, because he deserves it for all that he's done for me. For my family… "I trailed off again, looking at the people, strangers, passing by. For Hannah, I reaffirmed to myself, then continued, "but yeah," nodding a bit to myself, and looking back at Byakuran.
"I think it's about time I started fighting for me for a change."
"Look at you," Mukuro Rokudo said with a twinge of pity lacing his voice, appearing next to Chrome's hospital bed. The girl's eye fluttered, glancing over at him. A small smile graced her lips, causing a small quiver of confusion inside of Mukuro. "And here I thought," he said, recovering quickly, "you would do better if I sent you to her."
"Nikita…" Chrome managed, weakly, but still managed, "did her best, but there wasn't anything she could do…"
"Of course not," Mukuro said, frowning.
"Don't…" He raised an eyebrow, impressed with the amount of determination she managed to put into her voice, "blame her for this. Please? She did her best, but it's… it's not her fault…."
"No," he admitted his grip tightening slightly where he was leaning on the railing of the bed, "it's not. You know exactly what's happening, don't you, Nagi?" She nodded weakly in response. "Then you know that this is all depending on you," he reminded her, before turning, ready to leave her once more.
"Mukuro," she whispered, causing him to turn his head slightly, "please… she's sorry too," she stated, looking over at him, her one visible eye slightly glazed over, as if dreaming, "she's just as sorry as you."
Mukuro Rokudo stared back at his former vessel, mulling over her words. He clicked his tongue, and turned back, exiting in a flurry of mist.
"Thanks, Lichi," I said kindly, scratching the small monkey under his chin. I moved to my school bag, securing one watch in a safe spot, then moving to adjust the other on my wrist. I threw the empty velvet bag with my other things, then retrieved a small bag of candy for Lichi as a parting gift. My eyes lingered on the other empty bed in the room, thinking back to Chrome and frowning. I shook my head, snapping myself out of it, and turned back to Lichi at the open window.
"Don't let master see you with this," I told him, holding a finger to my lips, "our little secret, remember?" Lichi chittered happily, taking the bag happily as I handed it to him. I smiled, laughing a bit at his reaction. I waved a soft goodbye as he left and securely closed the window. I sighed, stepping out into the hallway and gently shutting the door, running a hand through my hair as I moved to walk to school alone. I stopped, however, hearing someone approach from behind me.
"You want to ride with me, Cloud?" I turned around, then looked my brother up and down, noting his attire. My eyes trailed the wrappings and bandages on his arm, covering his tattoo, then flickered to the textbooks and notebooks at his side.
"So," I guess, tilting my head to look up at him, "Reborn got you a teaching job so you'll be closer to the team in case a fight breaks out."
He blinked, surprised that I guessed it immediately. He recovered quickly, nodding and smiling brightly, yet a little strained. Not liking his smile, I turned to continue on my way, this time heading towards the parking garage.
"Speaking of battles," he said, moving forward quickly to walk beside me, "did you forget about it yesterday? Where were you during the battles?" I stopped in my tracks, causing Dino to nearly fall into me, running into my back as we entered the parking garage. My eye twitched and I took a breath.
"I've changed my mind. I'm walking," I decided suddenly, turning to the exit.
"Wha- Cloud!" Dino called after me, "Nikita, what's wrong? What did I say?" He ran up, and placed himself in front of me. "Come on, sis!" He tried, holding his hands up, awkwardly holding his supplies under his arms and securing them against his side, "what happened to the whole communicating thing? I thought we said that we would tell each other stuff?"
"What happened to asking me about being on Reborn's team?" I shot back, crossing my arms. His eyes widened in realization.
"Is that why you're mad?" I rolled my eyes and moved to step past him, only for him to step in my way again.
"Come one, Cloud," He said, almost whining, "do you really want to walk all the way to school when I could drive you?" I clicked my tongue and stepped back slightly, pivoting myself away from him. He was picking at my weakness of being too lazy to walk when I could ride in a car.
"Fine," I nearly grumbled, then looking pointedly at him, "but don't expect me to talk about this on the way. I'm annoyed enough with you as it is."
"I bet I can wear you down," he teased, ruffling my hair and slinging an arm around me before I could push him away, leading me to his Ferrari. I sighed, slumping a bit after seeing the car, resisting the urge to face palm.
"Honestly, do you have to choose the flashiest car to drive on your first day?"
"What do you mean Cloud saved you?!"
A light blush spread across Enma's cheeks before he composed himself and nodded.
"Yeah," he told the three boys, "I was sure that the Varia was going to kill me, but then she came and healed me…and, well…." he trailed off awkwardly. Yamamoto's eyes narrowed slightly, taking note of this. Tsuna and Gokudera, however, seemed to either miss or ignore this.
"She should have helped us with Hibari!" Gokudera growled, looking almost betrayed, "She could have at least calmed him down!" Enma looked up, confused at this.
"Do you guys have an alliance with her team?" he asked curiously. They blinked down at him.
"What are you talking about?" Gokudera questioned roughly, "The Bronco said that she took the watch…" he trailed off, all three of them coming to the same conclusion.
"The Hell!" Gokudera slammed his hand down on Enma's desk, causing both him and Tsuna to jump. "He was wrong about her too!" Yamamoto laughed good naturedly as Tsuna tried to calm down the fuming Gokudera.
"That means she's on Storm Arcobaleno's team right? Fon, right?"" He asked, looking at Enma. Tsuna and Gokudera looked over at Yamamoto. Enma nodded.
"Yeah, I think that was his name…" Enma responded, feeling almost uncomfortable under the baseball player's gaze. Yamamoto then paused, noticing Tsuna and Gokudera's glances. He blinked innocently over at them.
"Hm?"
"Yamamoto…" Tsuna muttered, "how do you know that?"
"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Yamamoto responded lightly, "Cloud told me a while ago that she was trained by the storm baby. Since you and Dino are on Reborn's team, then would she be on his team, right?" They stared at him blankly.
"For being such an idiot," Gokudera muttered, "that makes an alarming amount of sense." Yamamoto laughed.
"Right?"
"I guess we can't really blame her then…" Tsuna said, looking over at Gokudera, hoping that the bomber wouldn't be too mad.
"I was kind of looking forward to her being on our team though," Yamamoto said almost wistfully, then patted Enma roughly on the back, giving him a knowing look. "She's pretty great, after all. Right?" Enma grew a bit pink, and nodded quickly, looking away. Tsuna gave Enma a quizzical look before being distracted by Gokudera again.
"Wait," the bomber said, sitting up a bit straighter and coming to a sudden conclusion, "if she's on Fon's team…" he muttered, trailing off. Tsuna's eyes widening, coming to the same realization.
"Hie!" Tsuna squealed, clutching his head. "That means that Cloud is on the same team as Hibari!"
"This can't just be because I didn't ask you if you wanted to be on Reborn's team," Dino came to the conclusion, briskly walking behind me.
"You're right!" I said with fake enthusiasm, stopping and turning on my heel with my finger raised.
"Ha!" He said triumphantly, "I got you to talk." I scowled, realizing that I had broken my silence for the first time since getting in the car.
"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically, ignoring the looks we were getting from other students who were rushing to get to class on time, "and that brings you so much closer to figuring out what you're forgetting."
"So, it's because I forgot something?" He pointed out, putting his hand on his chin. My expression deadpanned, and I shifted my weight, feeling my bag and noting how heavy it felt, even though it only had one extra, small object. The weight of that object, however, and the implications with it, caused me to frown.
"I've got things to do, Dino," I said briefly, then pointed suddenly, causing Dino to reel back. "The teacher's lounge is that way. You should pick up stuff there before you go to your class. Which," I added, looking over a clock on the wall, "you're going to be late for."
"Things to do?" He repeated, ignoring my last sentence "Don't you have to get to class? Aren't you in my class?" he finished, crossing him arms in attempt to establish dominance.
"Technically, yes," I admitted blankly, "but I'm exempted because I work for the Disciplinary Committee." He nearly spluttered, losing his earlier composure.
"You're in the Disciplinary Committee with Kyoya?!" I raised an eyebrow, lifting an arm to tug at my obviously displayed arm band. Wordlessly, I turned on my heel.
"Have fun, Dino-sensei," I called, holding a single hand up. I heard his splutter again, easily imagining him stepping forward, then realizing the time and groaning loudly.
"This isn't over, Nikita!" He called, "We're going to talk about this later!"
I sighed as I entered the reception room, and nodded a quick greeting to Kyoya. He glanced over, and nodded back, surprising me a bit. It seems he had mellowed out since yesterday.
"Dino's a teacher at school now," I informed him, causing him to look over at me. "Reborn thought that it would be beneficial to their team if he was around, since, well, he's on their team," I finished with a shrug, sitting down on the couch beside my master. Hibari made a small humming sound, a small smirk on his face.
"Is that so?" We looked over as Tetsu entered the room, a little winded.
"I've just been informed that Di-" Hibari held up a hand, silencing him.
"I've already been informed," he said bluntly as he stood up from the desk. Tetsu blinked and looked over at me. I smiled apologetically. Tetsu nodded in understanding and side stepped, allowing Kyoya to leave the room smoothly. My eyes lingered on his watch as he left. I stiffened and looked over to see Fon patting my hand reassuring me. I calmed down after he winked at me, letting me know that it was working.
"He's not going to attack Dino in the middle of class, right?" I asked, a bit unsure and looking back at the open door. Tetsu shook his head.
"He wouldn't disrupt the peace," He stated confidently.
"Ah," I said leaning back, allowing Lichi to jump in my lap, "that's a relief. Dino's going to have a hard enough time teaching as it is," I noted, smiling as I scratched under Lichi's chin.
"Is your brother qualified to teach?" Tetsu asked. I hummed, not looking over at him.
"Define qualified."
I smiled, looking down at my phone and shifting my position on the window ledge as I answered.
"Hey!" I said happily, causing Fon too look over at me, smiling at the pure cheerfulness of my voice. Kyoya barely glanced up from the other couch, then went back to reading his book.
"You sound purely radiant, darling," Dayita cooed. I could practically see her twirling a lock of her hair and batting her eyelashes.
"I haven't heard from you guys for a couple days," I admitted, rolling my shoulders.
"Then you'll be happy to know that we'll be arriving later tonight," she informed me.
"That's great! Is Fran there? How's his training going?" I asked curiously.
"I'm hurt, dear, that you would move onto to him so fast," she said in a dejected voice, "and for your information-hey! Brat!" I blinked, and took the phone away from my ear, waiting until the sound of struggling ceased.
"Yo, Bahin."
"Did you take the phone from Dayita?" I asked him, smiling softly, glad to hear his voice again.
"Yep. I'm hiding from her now. Shikshikaa says that I'm really good at concealment. And misdirection," he added, then as an afterthought, "Well, she doesn't actually say that, but it's pretty obvious how awesome I am."
"I see," I said with a light laugh, then asked, switching to Japanese, "you haven't been skimping on languages, right?"
"Nope," he replied in nearly perfected Japanese, causing me to raise my eyebrows slightly, "she's been beating that into me too."
"I'll admit," I switched back to Hindi, "I'm impressed, kid."
"Shikshikaa says that she has to drop me off first, then go to a meeting," he informed me, "so luckily, she'll be gone and it'll just be us. I want to play with Jian and Kashi again." I laughed at his bluntness.
"Is her training really that bad, Fran?" I could clearly picture his blank expression.
"You have no idea, Bahin. Ah! Shikshikaa, n-" I sighed, holding the phone away again as they continued to struggle.
"Ow, Shikshikaa, that hurt…" I heard Fran mutter before Yita's voice came through clearly.
"You deserve it, brat. If you were a competent illusionist, then I wouldn't have found you," she scolded him coldly, before changing her tone completely.
"Sorry about that, Nike, dearest! I'll just have to add an extra punishment to my dear student later!" I heard a small, monotone grumble of disapproval from Fran before hearing a small yelp.
"Don't be too hard on him, Yita," I reminded her, frowning.
"You're too soft," Yita huffed, then continued, "but I do apologize for us arriving so late. I'll have to run after meeting up with you, as well. Business, you understand."
"You sure it will hold up until then?" I asked, eyes flickering to Kyoya's wrist, then back out the window, looking into the schoolyard for distractions. Dayita clicked her tongue.
"Doubting me, hm? Of course it will work," she tutted, "it's my illusion, after all. It's almost too simple tricking a simple-minded beast like him." I scrunched my nose.
"Be nice," I reprimanded. There was a pause.
"Ah, that's right," she clipped, "I apologize; you can't see me rolling my eyes over the phone." I rolled my eyes myself.
"Rude," I tutted, then moved to end the conversation, "I'll see you both tonight."
"Oh, and darling," she called, causing me to pause before hanging up.
"Hm?"
"Do be careful in these battles," she reminded me, "I'd like for you to be in one piece when I see you, after all."
"Yo, Enma!" The boy nearly jumped, and I instantly retracted my hand from his shoulder. I blinked, stepping back to let him compose himself. "Sorry, if I startled you," I told him, giving a small smile as an apology. He shook his head, face red from embarrassment.
"No, it's fine," he said quickly, looking down.
"I'm glad I caught you before you left," I told him, causing him to look up. I took Jian's ring off my finger, and put in in his hand, making sure his fingers closed around it.
"Make sure Skull takes good care of him, okay?" I told him, patting his hand before releasing it, "Jian's really important to me." He blinked, staring down at his hand, then nodded quickly.
I stiffened, causing Enma to snap his attention back to me. I titled my head as Enma opened his mouth, trying to stutter out something. I scowled, then cut him off, moving forward and patting him on the shoulder.
"Sorry," I called back, "but Adel's about to come around the corner, and I really," I enunciated, "don't want to deal with her right now!" I saw that he wanted to say something, but was already around the corner.
I glanced up, smiling when I saw a secure place I could hide myself until she passed, positioned so that someone wouldn't notice unless they were extremely observant, or at a lower height. I kicked off the wall and secured myself in the corner of the ceiling, bracing myself there and concealing my presence completely.
I stiffened, seeing Adel walk briskly around the corner where I came from with a worried looking Enma following.
"I heard Nikita Cavallone's voice," she diligently told him, looking around and scanning the hallways, but not looking up.
"She's probably already gone, Adel," Enma nearly pleaded, having to jog a little to catch up, "Can't you just let it go?" She stopped suddenly, causing the boy to almost run into her and fall back. He winced, then widened his eyes dramatically, spying me from his position on the floor.
I winked, then re-positioned myself to hold a finger to my lips. His face went red and he quickly looked away and back to Adel, who was frowning with a guilty expression.
"You know I can't do that, Enma," she told him in a gentle voice. I blinked, not knowing she had such a motherly attitude. I was just used to her trying to fight me. I watched as she brushed Enma off, the boy becoming embarrassed, his eyes flickering up to me again.
"It doesn't matter anyway," Adel said, almost a sigh before she became determined again. "I'll find her soon enough."
And with that, she turned on her heel, stalking down the hallways again. Enma sent me one last apologetic look before going after her. I sighed in relief, but stiffened again, seeing two more people walking in. I relaxed however, seeing who it was, and became disappointed when he fell flat on his face. I watched, unimpressed as the woman that was walking behind him helped my brother with his papers. I waited until the woman walked off, then commented.
"You really make a pathetic teacher, you know," I called down. He stiffened, straightening his back then looking around wildly. I dropped down, earning a small shriek from my brother, who then scrambled backwards.
"What are you doing, Cloud?!" He asked, nearly scandalized. I blinked, rising from the crouch I landed in.
"What are you doing?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow as he straightened his papers again.
"For your information," He grumbled, taking the hand I held out to him begrudgingly, "being a teacher is a lot hard than it looks. It's no joke!" My eyes flickered behind him, the only warning my brother got.
"What are you doing?" Dino jumped again, letting out a little squeak and spinning around.
"You two!" He looked in between us, "You guys have got to stop sneaking up on me like that! I swear," he wheezed, bending over a little bit, allowing some color to come back to his face, "you two are going to be the death of me!"
Kyoya raised a single eyebrow, unimpressed by my brother's reaction.
"He literally just walked up behind you," I pointed out.
"What are you doing anyway?" Dino asked, looking over at Kyoya, "you know the rules of the representative battles, right? You can't fight us until it's time." Kyoya's eyes barely flickered over to me in question before he addressed Dino.
"That's why I'm waiting here," he said coolly, holding up his wrist, "I'm waiting for this watch to signal the start of the battle. My single reason for joining Team Fon," he said with a bloodthirsty smirk, "is to bite you to death."
"So you're after me right now?!" Dino asked, taking a step back towards me.
"If I didn't come now, you'd run away," Kyoya responded with a small shrug. I hummed.
"That is true." Dino's head whipped to me.
"You're not helping, Cloud!" he reprimanded, offended.
"I don't think it was her intention to," Fon said, jumping on my shoulder as he revealed himself. Dino blinked, tilting his head.
"You're… Cloud's martial art's master, right?" Fon smiled and nodded.
"A pleasure to meet you after so long," Fon said putting his sleeves together and doing a small bow, "and I apologize for not meeting beforehand."
I could practically see the gears turning in Dino's head, the last piece of the puzzle clicking into place. Dino blinked, looking between the three of us, then at all of our watches. His eyes widened and pointed dramatically at me in accusation.
"You're on Fon's team?!"
"You haven't told him?" Fon asked curiously, looking over at me. I shrugged, indifferent.
"He never asked," I said, then gave Dino a pointed look, "or even bothered to look at the watch I've been wearing all of yesterday and today." I held up my wrist as proof. Dino scanned over it, clearly seeing my master's name printed on it. Kyoya looked in between us indifferently.
"Is that why you were mad?"
"Because you forgot who my master was, or because the fact that you didn't even consider I'd be on his team?" I asked for clarification, putting my hands on my hips and leaning forward. Dino leaned back, paling a bit. I huffed and poked him in the forehead as I walked past both my brother and Kyoya.
"Yeah, dumbass," I relented, not looking back, "that's why I was pissed." Dino blinked, then turned around, yelling after me.
"Cloud, I'm sorry!" Kyoya smirked and turned, following me, leaving Dino alone in the hallway.
"See you later then," the prefect promised, but to Dino's ears it rang clear as a threat. Dino groaned, running a hand through his hair and shutting his eyes.
"Kyoya and Cloud on the same team….? I'm doomed."
"Hey there, Chrome," I said softly, peeking my head in the door before entering the room. I frowned, seeing that they had added more machinery. Chrome smiled weakly, putting on a show for my sake as I neared the bed, putting the covered package down along with my bag. "Hope you didn't get too bored without me," I lightly joked.
"Don't worry," she shot back weakly, "I entertained myself." I laughed; a sad, hollow sound.
"Mukuro came by."
For such a weak voice, the statement came out strong. I grew cold, and reserved myself. I sat lightly on the side of her bed, and hesitated before answering, not really knowing how.
"Did he?" I asked finally.
"I don't know what he did," Chrome said softly, barely a whisper, almost an apology, "but I already feel…. that both of you are sorry…." I almost winced, then relaxed feeling her hand barely brush mine.
"But," I reminded her, lifting my head to look out the window, "that's not forgiveness."
"Not yet…" I looked over at her, surprised. "You two… you're working it out," she explained quietly.
"Fighting it out," I corrected, looking over at my bag I had brought with me, knowing I would be here until the battle starts.
"And it's working, isn't it?" It wasn't a question, not really. Or at least, I knew by looking in her eyes, that she didn't mean it as one.
"I got you something," I said, suddenly remembering, pushing myself off the bed and breaking away from her touch. I went to the covered package and unwrapped it, revealing a fresh bouquet of white tulips; the answer to her question. I gave her another soft smile, messing lightly with the petals before looking back at Chrome.
"We should get these in some water."
"So you're really going after her?" Adel paused, looking back at the open doorway, surprised to see such a determined look on Enma's face. Her eyes flickered down to Skull, peeking out from behind Enma's legs, silent for once.
"Are you going try to stop me?" she asked then softened, "If you really don't want me to, then I won't Enma. You know that." Enma frowned and opened his mouth. He hesitated and then shook his head.
"You really feel like you need to do this, don't you, Adel?" She nodded in response.
"Fine," he sighed, his head dropping. "Just be careful, okay?" He said, looking back up at her.
"You too," she told him. "Stay together," she said as a goodbye, walking toward him and kissing his forehead, "be safe. I can't bear to see you hurt again when I'm not there to protect you."
"I actually have enough time to fully equip myself this time," I said lightly, securing my guns and then stretching my arms and twisting, finding the material my clothes strange but securing. I paused, looking at my watch and brushing my finger over it, feeling a little bit of guilt, then shaking it off, going ahead and putting bamboo over it.
"Do your weights really make that much of a difference?" Chrome asked quietly, watching as I jumped and stretched lightly, testing my own weight.
"Totally," I said with an easy smile. "You should have seen me when I first took them off; I didn't know what to do with my own speed. I'm really glad that master thought to train without them before the battles," I added as an afterthought.
"You're really ready to fight, aren't you?" Chrome noted almost sadly. I ceased my movements, looking over at her.
"Yeah," I admitted. "I am."
"When will you two talk again? Civilly?" she asked, verging on curiosity instead of pity. I shrugged, rolling my shoulders.
"When it becomes more effective than fighting?" I tried, then shrugged, "but for now… this is working. I think?" I said, tilting my head a bit, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm human enough to admit I'm feeling a bit better after beating him around a bit. Good therapy."
Chrome nearly huffed and I sent her an apologetic smile. My watch beeped loudly, a bit muffled by the bamboo, and I sent her another smile, opening the window and stepping on the ledge.
"Oh, come on, Chrome," I called back, turning to face her before jumping out, "you should understand, right? After all," I sent her a wink.
"You're a fighter too."
"I'll fight Team Uni for ten minutes or so," Mukuro decided idly, leaning back on the weathered couch, watching the scientist work, "then once I have them occupied, I'll begin hunting for Cavallone."
Verde clicked his tongue, barely looking up from his work.
"Young people and their love," Verde tutted, causing Mukuro to chuckle.
"I would hardly call it love, professor," the illusionist sneered, tilting his head in vague amusement.
"Well there's certainly something between you two," Verde stated almost irritably, "Even I can see that." Mukuro blinked, considering it. They stiffened as their watches sounded, announcing the battle and beginning its countdown. Mukuro Rokudo stepped forward with a chuckle, his trident appearing in his hand.
"I suppose you're right, professor," he admitted with a cold smirk, "I suppose you're right."
I leaned back on the balls of my feet, surveying the almost too empty street. I moved forward again, making sure I was constantly moving, and yet still remaining in the same area. If I was lucky, no one would attack me until after Skull had done his part.
Naturally, I was unlucky.
I jumped back just in time, looking in the direction where the ice shard had come from. I narrowed my eyes as I met Adel's, who was stalking towards me, already equipped. I sighed and slumped, seeing her watch.
"You're participating?" It almost came out as a whine.
"I was lucky to find you this early on," Adel noted coldly, "it will give us more time to go all out." I frowned, tightening my fist and preparing to summon Jian. I blinked, and looked down, only seeing Kashi's ring on my right hand.
"Fuck!" I stomped my foot, jumping out of the way and running along the wall. Adel scowled and chased after me.
"You can't run, Cavallone!" I groaned, running a hand through my hair, having forgotten that I had given Jian, my main defense, my ultimate defense, to Skull. I was panda-less. Although Kashi had some of Jian's bamboo attributes (which I was luckily able to use to cover my watch), he was the box weapon that my defense originated from. He was the main, and Kashi's main purpose was multiplication and healing. And, I noted, dwelling on the most important part, Jian was the one with the rain flames, one of the largest aspects of the defense. I ducked, sliding on my knees to avoid another ice shard.
However, I noted, while she may have an upper hand in defense, I had the obvious upper hand in combat. I had already noted this just from her confronting me the other day. But having watched her movements and waiting, it became even more obvious. She was a confrontational fighter, like Kyoya, after all.
She had figured out I was playing with her as well, which, naturally, led to her anger. Her eyes snapped to the fountain of the park I had drawn her too, in case I needed to use the trees as a vantage point. She smirked, going towards the water. I teetered back, prepared to go in to end the battle, but hesitating, not knowing that she was doing.
"What the actual, fuck," I stated, staring as figures rose out of the water after Adel froze it.
"These are my Blizzardroids," Adel explained, inclining her chin as more began forming out of the water. "Each of them have the same amount of skill as me a-"
"Those things are creepy all hell!" I accused, pointing at them. Adel's eyes twitched.
"Don't interrupt me!" I began running backwards shaking my head.
"No thanks!" I called, then turned around, heading more into town, "I don't want to deal with an ice zombie apocalypse, or whatever the shit those are!"
"You can't run, Cavallone!" she called after me.
"Fucking watch me!" I called back, opening a box weapon and increasing my speed, jumping from the top of the wall onto a rooftop.
I fit the strap of the rifle around me, and raised the snout. Hearing clicking behind me, I turned suddenly, touching the forehead of the blizzardroid in front of me, taking it out instantly and moving on to the others just as fast, ice shattering and glittering around me as I did. I swung back, dodging a swing from one and then swinging the butt of my gun, cracking its torso and effectively tearing it in half. I kicked it off the edge of the building, seeing it trying to mend itself with its lower half.
"Just how many of these can you make?!" I yelled out in frustration, seeing that Adel herself had caught up after a while of me taking out droids via headshots, and realizing that they just kept coming.
"I can make as many as I want!" She said defiantly, watching as I continued shooting from a distance, not allowing them to get to my rooftop. I flipped the gun on my shoulder, taking out the droid that had scaled up behind me, hoping for a surprise attack.
"That's a lie, isn't it?" I called her out, causing Adel to frown.
"I mean, come on," I said, laughing lightly, having to stand side ways and bring out one of my smaller guns to cover both sides, "this is impressive and all, but so is my defense, and I can't keep that up forever either."
"The defense you have yet to use," she pointed out with a cold look in her eye. "Are you mocking me, Nikita Cavallone?"
"Not trying to, at least," I shot back, annoyed with how long this was taking. She scowled, stepping forward herself and entering the fight. I smiled, more than ready to fight a real opponent instead of these dummies, but my expression fell as I was forced to jump back off of the roof and to the safety of another.
Adel's eyes flashed with confusion, before widening, bringing her arms up as she used her own droids around her for protection as the missiles hit the roof. I held a single arm up, covering my eyes from the flash of the explosion, wincing a bit at its size. I frowned, hearing a familiar chuckle coming from the smoke.
"How rude," Mukuro stated, spinning his trident to dispel the smoke around him, "you started without me."
My eyes flickered over to Adel. Most of her droids were shattered from the impact, and she herself looked a little scuffed up. But, I noted, her watch was still very much intact. She glared at Mukuro.
"You're Mukuro Rokudo," she noted icily. He hummed, turning away from me to look over at her.
"And you're taking my prey," he said simply, smirking.
"Nikita Cavallone is my opponent!" Adel nearly snarled.
"I don't like sharing my things," Mukuro warned her, narrowing his eyes. Adel's own hardened and she stood taller, baring her fans.
"Ladies, ladies, please," I called out, holding a hand up, "don't fight over me. Seriously, please do not."
They ignored me, naturally. I sighed, as they shifted stances, clearly prepared to fight two opponents at once.
"Battle royale?" I asked, mostly talking to myself. I sighed, as their eyes flickered between me and their other, new opponent. I put away both my guns, knowing that I would have to change tactics with Mukuro involved now.
"Yep," I reaffirmed, undoing my twin sickles and swinging them, "battle royale."
"No way!" Skull held out a hand, looking up at Enma defiantly, "You're staying here with your family!"
"But Skull-"
"No way!" Skull repeated with more emphasis, turning his back, hoping to look cool in front of Enma. "There's no way you're coming with me! You're staying here with your family until I get back! Now," Skull nodded in confirmation beginning to run forward, into the street, "I've got to find this place before the battle actually starts! She'll definitely kill me if I don't do it!" Skull nearly squealed, stopping to clutch the side of his head as he thought back to their conversation.
"What the hell do you want, bitch?" Skull yelled, recovering from where the girl had dropped him. She sighed, looking down at him as she shifted the weight in her hips, dislodging her arm from Enma as well. The boy blinked, still extremely red and stood awkwardly to the side shuffling his feet, not knowing what to do.
"I need you to do something for me," She addressed Skull, crouching down to face him.
"Eh?! Me?" He questioned, "Not Enma?" The red head looked over at the girl, who shook her head.
"This is only something you can do," she said, poking him in the forehead, causing him to stiffen as she leaned down more, "and I just saved your representative's ass. Therefore," she said, slowly, "you owe me. And I'm pulling a favor," she concluded, standing to her full height. Enma blinked, then stepped forward, determined, but flighty.
"I can do whatever you want," he said, then grew red, restating, "I-I mean, I'm the one you saved, so it's really me that owes you, right?" She smiled softly, but shook her head.
"Skull has to do it," she restated, "that's the most important part. It won't work if it's not him. So," she tilted her head, looking back down at skull, "don't mess it up, okay? I'm going to be entrusting something very important to me." Skull gulped, uncomfortable under her gaze.
"But," she turned to Enma, losing her demanding demeanor and looking apologetic more than anything, "before I explain, I do want to apologize for kind of using you. If it helps," she said, scratching the back of her head, "I would have saved you regardless of the favor. You and Tsuna are close, right?" He blinked, then managed to stutter out.
"N-no it's fine, Sawada," he stated, not really knowing what else to call her, "I don't mind, really!" She blinked, looking confused for a second, then let out a small laugh, causing the boy's heart to flutter
"Cavallone, actually," she had corrected him causally, "I'm not actually related to Tsuna, but we're close enough to be siblings," she said with a shrug, crossing her arms. Enma went tomato red, resisting the urge to bring his hands up to hide his face.
"Anyways," she returned to skull, becoming more serious, "here's what I need you to do…"
"Are you kidding me!" Skull reminded Enma, "if what that bitch says is true, then I'll be running into the middle of a huge battle! I can't let you get hurt or the boss watch be destroyed!" Enma frowned, knowing this to be true. The two jumped as their watches went off, signaling the countdown to the battle.
"Get back inside," Skull shooed Enma, "I'll be fine! I'm the great Skull! Death himself fears me!" Skull said, trying to cover up his apprehension.
"Ah, be safe Skull!" Enma called out as the Arcobaleno ran down the street.
"Easy for him to say!" Skull cried, once out of earshot, "he's going into battle just to be shot!"
I braced myself, going into a roll after crashing into the window I was thrown through. I scowled, coming to a stop and slamming my fist down on the floor in anger.
"Motherfucker!" I seethed in Italian before rolling to my right, missing Adel as she impaled one of her fans in the space where my neck was moments before. Her eyes widening, realizing her mistake before she could fix it.
I pushed myself up and spun, twisting my core and landed a kick in her abdomen, knocking the wind out of her both with the kick and forcing her back onto the floor. In the same movement I placed myself above her, pinning down her hips with my knees and raising my elbow, bringing it down to smash her watch before she could even think about recovering.
I barely acknowledged her sharp yell, before I rolled again, taking her with me this time, glancing back to see Mukuro's trident stick the ground right where Adel's head had been. I untangled myself from the other girl and pushed away standing and immediately putting distance between myself and Mukuro. He retrieved his trident and dashed forward again.
Quickly punching my ring on a box at my hip, I brought two dual swords out just in time to block the blow, his face close enough to mine where I could see the details of his eyes. I scowled and ducked under, slicing his side before he pushed himself away, only to meet again in a flurry of movements.
From the corner of my eyes I saw Adel push herself up, as if to reenter the fight, then slam her fist down in anger with the realization of her shattered watch.
I stabbed my swords in the ground, lifting myself completely with my arms and kicked with my whole body sending Mukuro into the wall behind him. He coughed, pushing himself up. My eyes narrowed and I frowned, seeing that he had shielded his watch. I went to move forward again, but he held up a hand, stopping me.
"Break?" He suggested with a small smirk of humor. I blinked, then scowled.
"What the fuck, there aren't any break in-" I stopped, blinked, then straightened. Mukuro did the same, and looked at the other occupants of the room at the same time as me. I managed an awkward smile, realizing that all the eyes in the room were on me.
"Hey," I said with an awkward wave of one of my duel swords while my eyes shifted over to Adel on the sidelines, giving her an accusing glance.
"Out of all the buildings you throw me into," I hissed over to her, "you had to choose this one?"
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Squalo yelled, waving his sword in our direction. Bel snickered from the side of the room, his watch already broken.
"Looking hot princess!" He called out, cupping his hands to yell. I met the irritated eyes of my teammate, and smiled apologetically. I allowed myself to take some deep breaths, not having realized how winded I was.
"Hey, what's the time?" I called over to Kyoya, who looked ready to murder. He looked away from glaring at Mukuro and raised single eyebrow, but I answered his question by raising my own wrist, covered with bamboo.
"15 minutes," he said curtly, clearly miffed, and yet shocked that I was here and a little more blood thirsty now that the illusionist was in the room.
"Really?" I asked, titling my head, "thought for sure that it would be less. Huh." I ducked quickly, avoiding the spikes that impaled the wall behind me.
"I thought you were almost out of flames!" I said, looking back over at Mukuro. He smirked, looking a lot better for wear as he held up an empty box.
"The professor put this little box together just the other day," he said callously, showing it off, "to hold extra flames, since I require much more when fighting someone as troublesome as yo-"
Mukuro ducked quickly, just avoiding Kyoya's tonfa.
"Oi, oi," he reprimanded coolly, looking between me and Kyoya, "how rude; I was talking." Kyoya huffed once, then preceded to attack again, barraging Mukuro and efficiently distracting him from attacking me. I blinked, noticing a figure, thinking I was seeing double for a moment.
"Master?" I exclaimed. He looked over at me, and smiled, but dropped it with my next words, "What the hell?" I waved at him in a shooing motion, "Present end! Don't waste your time!" He blinked in realization, then smiled apologetically.
"I suppose I got ahead of myself," he said as he shrunk, "Now that you're here, I won't have to worry," he said with a chuckle, stepping back.
"What the hell, brat?!" Squalo called, pointing his blade at me, "I wanted to fight an Arcobaleno, dammit! Now, I might not ge-AH!" He waved his sword and spun around, slashing the object that was thrown at him only to have its contents spill out and be thrown onto him. "Mochi? It burns!"
I stiffened, feeling an ominous presence entering the room. Even Kyoya and Mukuro paused their fight, Kyoya stepping back to where he was in front of me, with Mukuro on the opposing side of the room.
My master grew serious as well, and shifted his stance, despite not even being in the battle. I saw Adel press herself more against the wall and Bel grin widely as Xanxus entered the room, Mammon leading him. I stiffened as his eyes scanned the room, lingering on me before going to Mukuro and Kyoya.
"What's this?" My expression dead panned, and I facepalmed, not at all surprised that this was happening. "The beast has come out of his den," Mukuro purred, spinning his trident and shifting his positioning, basically inviting Xanxus into their fight.
"Mukruo Rokudo…" Mammon muttered, "I've been informed of Verde's machine," he stated, basically preening Mukuro.
"Impressive aren't they?" Mukuro chided, holding up his hand.
"Perhaps if they were in the hands of a talented illusionists," Mammon droned. Mukuro side eyed me, definitely having heard my muffled laughter.
"Well?!" Squalo yelled out, looking over at his boss in irritation, picking the last bits of food out of his hair, "You gonna fucking fight or what?!"
Xanxus clicked his tongue, raising his gin as he stepped forward.
"Shut it, trash," he seethed, locking his eyes on Hibari and Mukuro. Naturally, Kyoya attacked first, going after Mukuro once more. I was forced to look away from the battle before Xanxus entered, bringing my swords up to block Squalo's.
"Voi," he drawled, switching his stance and putting more power into it, forcing me to strengthen my grip and push back with all my might, "as long as we're switching opponents," he said, a bloodthirsty smirk, "I might as well see if you kept those sword lessons in mind, right brat?"
I ducked under his sword like I did with Mukuro, forcing him to catch himself after bracing against me so harshly.
"If there's anything I learned from you," I told him, putting my back swords back into their box and retrieving my bayonets from the holsters on my boots, "is not to go up against an expert in his own field."
"Your plan?" He asked, amused before he charged at me again. I shrugged as I dodged, forcing him back as I shot at his wrist, leaving cuts along his arm. I answered him easily.
"To bring guns to a sword fight, of course."
Byakuran smiled lightly, pulling Gamma back quickly as he watched another figure jump in front of Tsuna, taking Collenello's shot on full force. Tsuna shot back in surprise, eyes wide as he witnessed the unfamiliar figure absorb the flames, as well a seemingly concentrating on a ring on his finger.
"Hey!" Tsuna shot forward, as the figure fell and winced as he hit the ground, right after an extremely large panda nearly burst from the figure's ring.
"You've got more important things to be worrying about that someone like that, Tsuna!" Reborn called quickly, having easily recognized the figure. Tsuna looked over at his tutor then back at the figure, worry in his eyes.
"He'll be fine," Reborn assured him, then ordered, "go!" Tsuna hesitated, then nodded, determination filling his eyes before he burst off to face his own father.
Byakuran hummed, floating down to approach the fallen figure.
"You know anything about this?" Reborn asked, looking almost coldly at him. Byakuran shrugged.
"Maybe~" He teased, eyes glimmering. Reborn clicked his tongue, then held up his finger, allowing Leon to transform into a hang glider before going after his student.
"Is that guy okay?" Gokudera ran over, Yamamoto right behind him.
"Oh, he should be fine," Byakuran waved them off, "at least, that's what Cloud said."
"Cloud?" Yamamoto repeated. The two stiffened, hearing a small, mumbled noise coming from the stranger, which grew in volume.
"…god FUCKING DAMMIT COLLENELLO, THAT HURT LIKE HELL!" The figure shouted shooting up and clutching their body, "Dammitt! She didn't say that it would hurt that much!" Gokudera and Yamamoto shot backwards, away from the figure. The stranger tore his helmet off, revealing tears in his eyes.
"What are you two looking at?!" He snapped at the guardians, who stepped back uncertainly.
"Ah! We need to go help Tsuna!" Yamamoto said, looking at his watch. Gokudera curse loudly, and begin running towards the direction of the road.
"Ah! The undead Skull really is impressive!" Byakuran complimented, clapping his hands together. Skull blinked, looking over at him in surprise, then recovered, jumping up to flex for his admirer.
"Of course!" he said, laughing defiantly, "The great Skull, who death himself fears, would never be taken out by a puny shot like that!" Byakuran laughed good naturedly.
"That sure was a lot of flames you absorbed! Jian got really big, just like Cloud said he would," Byakuran mused, leaning over to view the giant panda.
"Huh?" Skull paused, freezing in a pose. "Shit! That's right!" He said, whipping around and running to the enormous box weapon.
"Get up, get the fuck up!" Skull yelled at the animal, attempting to grab its paw and drag it. Jian grumbled, trying to get itself to sit up, only to sway and fall back down on its side.
"I can't believe this!" Skull screamed out, clutching his head, "It's drunk! It's drunk on the flames I gave it! Dammit!" He shoved the animal with all it's might, only for it to roll over again. Skull screamed out again, causing Byakuran to laugh.
"This isn't funny, dammit!" Skull whipped around, "she's going to kill me if I can't get this stupid thing to her right away!"
"You could always use that," Byakuran pointed towards the road. Skull blinked unimpressively at the vehicle Byakuran chose. He sighed in defeat, slumping.
"You're just lucky that I know how to hot wire a car," he grumbled, running a hand down his face, then moaning, "Man, this is so fucking uncool!"
I blinked, looking down at the glove in my hand, then back to Mukuro, who recovered with roll after I had thrown him. He scowled, looking from the glove to his bare hand before smirking, watching as I ducked under Squalo's sword and spinning, wincing as a shock went through my arm when I blocked his blade with my bayonet, forcing me to drop the glove.
I bit my lip and parried with him, barely dodging at times and getting knicked at others. I scowled, knowing that I was tripping up with the amount of small injuries on my body from the long fight, but was surprised to see Kyoya block Squalo's sword for me.
In return I pulled him back, just as Squalo jumped back. Kyoya gave me an irritated, murderous glance, before seeing Xanxus fire, realizing I had pulled him back from it. Not sparing another glance, we split ways again, Kyoya going towards Squalo and Xanxus, while I was faced with my original opponent.
Our separate battles had merged three minutes in, Kyoya and I ducking in and out and between opponents, almost falling into step. I noticed, with a little irritation, that Mukuro and I would fall into step as well, accidentally working together against one opponent, then with that realization, face off against each other. The battle had spread well onto every inch of the top floor, often taking out whole walls, not leaving much in between rooms, if you could even all them that. However, I found myself with Mukuro in one of these distinctions, as cut off as we could be from the others at this point.
I inclined my head, the tip of his trident barely missing my cheek before shooting down at his leg, the bullet brushing his thigh, leaving a gash and causing him to falter. Using this, I fell into him with all my weight, his back colliding with the ground knocking the wind out of him, using the fall to lock my knees around his hips, sealing their movement. I quickly brought my elbow down, aiming for his wrist, to destroy his watch like I had with Adel's.
Our eyes met for a moment before his last remaining glove bristled with flames. I barely registered the small, yet thick metal wall he had created in between us before my elbow smashed into it.
I screamed in pain and rolled off of him, my other hand going to my shattered elbow. I squinted my eyes, seeing Mukuro push himself up and attempt to smash the bamboo around my watch with the blunt end of his trident now that all my focus was one my injured arm. My eyes widened in surprised as something wrapped around his trident and yanked it away from the illusionist, who retreated immediately.
"Nikita! Are you okay?!" I looked over to see Dino, who sent me a concerned look before Mukuro attacked him, having barely managed to make another trident with what was left of his flames, resorting to his last box Verde had made.
I rolled over, not even bothering to think about why Dino was here, but instead hoping to use this time to salvage my arm enough to where I could possibly use it until the battle was over, which, judging from the last time I glimpsed Mukuro's watch, is in ten minutes. I pushed myself up, only to be smacked into the wall by an extremely large and heavy force. I winced, closing my eyes, almost regretting opening them again.
Hot, retched breath blew over my face, as the nightmarish creature stared down at me. I grew cold, cradling my arm and staring up at the monster, before it almost grinned, showing horrendous teeth. I kicked my heel, popping the knife out of the toe of my shoe, kicking the creature and tearing the knife through its flesh. As it cried out, I ducked and rolled against the wall just before it bit into it in rage. I let my bad arm fall, leaning down to grab one of my guns and shooting at the creature.
"Mukuro what the fuck?! I thought you were too weak to make something like this?" I called over as I nearly stumbled back, my shots seeming to hold the thing back.
I looked over, my blood running cold, seeing confusion in Mukuro's eyes as well, the appearance of the creature having stopped his fight with Dino. I glanced in what remained of the other room, seeing that Xanxus, Squalo, and Hibari were far too preoccupied in their fight to notice it yet.
"Nikita!" Dino yelled, reaching out to me. I barely had time to look over before the creature slammed into me again, pinning me to the ground, nearly squashing the breath out of me, both its saliva and blood from the gunshot wounds dripping down onto to me. I bit back a scream as it lowered its head and growled lowly. I managed a whimper turning my head to look over at Dino, who was rearing his whip, ready to try to tear this monster off of me.
There was a flash of movement, then a violent, yet concentrated force impaled the creature holding me down. I could hear the snap of its neck, the break vibrating through its body, and thus to me. In one moment, warm arms scooped me up off the floor and kicked off the wall. I closed my eyes, the movement lurching my stomach, only opening them as the man carrying me skidded back, and gently put me down, his hand remaining and still supporting my back.
I blinked up at him, at first thinking it was Kyoya who saved me. I quickly corrected myself, recognizing who it was.
"Master?" I asked as he gently sat me up. I looked around, realizing that he had brought me back into the 'main' room, where all three brawlers had paused to stare at him. Fon smiled warmly down at me before changing his expression completely, glaring to a corner of the room.
"I should have expected a nightmarish creature to come from your mind, Viper," he said, the coldness in his voice nearly sending shivers down my spine. Despite being so close, this is the first time I had ever seen him truly angry. My eyes flickered from Dino and Mukuro reentering the room, my brother letting out a sigh of relief after seeing me safe, then I looked to the figure, shrouded in the corner.
"Of course you would say that," it drawled, before stepping out, revealing themselves to be an older, uncursed Mammon. They held up their hand, flexing it, revealing Mukuro's earlier discarded glove. Mukuro scowled, tensing up immediately after seeing it. "But," Mammon continued, tilting his head and looking over at me, "I do admit to the accident of the first real illusion. I was simply testing it, after all."
"On my student?" Fon accused, his grip tightening around me a bit. I winced slightly, causing him to look down at me, looking guilty, ashamed even, then nodding an apology before letting me go, his hand barely brushing against my injured arm. I nodded, understanding and immediately setting to work healing it to the best of my ability as the Arcobalenos continued to talk.
"Don't take it personally," Mammon defended with an edge of irritation, "she was just unlucky enough to get in the way. And don't you dare start preaching to me again!" Fon tilted his head in confusion.
"Preaching?" He repeated.
"You always got on my nerves complaining about what I was doing with money," Mammon growled. "I don't like how you speak as if you're superior!"
"I wouldn't say I was preaching," Fon smiled nervously, then noticed my expression, having paused from my healing with my reaction, "right, Nikita?"
I pointedly looked away, cradling my arm.
"Well, Master…" I said, looking anywhere but his face. He blinked, looking slightly offended.
"Betrayed by my own student," he muttered, then paled further, Kyoya giving him a pointed, almost smug look. "My own family…" he added in disbelief.
"Also," Mammon continued, years of resentment building up, their glove flickering with mist flames until it was covered in them, "you think that martial arts are superior to illusions, don't you?" Fon blinked at this, then nodded, confident.
"Of course," he admitted, "So what?"
"You always made fun of illusions and boasted about martial arts!"
"Well, I wasn't boasting-" Master tried to defend himself only to be cut off.
"I hate you!" Mammon yelled, raising their glove, "I will win this proxy war and go back to my original form!"
A dark matter of sorts formed rapidly around their feet, almost like liquid, causing even their teammates to step away from him. Xanxus looked over, almost with pride. Fon frowned, looking over at me once more. I moved my arm a bit, showing him that it was healed enough to where I could use it, sending a reassuring look to Dino as well. I pushed myself to my feet, then separated from my master, who rushed forward to meet Mammon.
"Let's see what these gloves can do when a true illusionist is using them!" Mammon called out, raising their arms as awful, nightmarish creatures sprang to life from the black liquid at their feet.
I saw Kyoya's eyes widen a bit before hardening, baring his tonfas and beginning to take down the creatures. I tested my arm once more, wincing a little before spinning a knife and rushing forward, hoping to make my way to my brother. I felt like – no, I needed someone for support in this hellish situation; someone to fight alongside for reassurance. I spun around, stiffening when I felt my back collide with someone else, but relaxed when I realized that it was Kyoya.
"Eight minutes," he told me before charging off again. I blinked, registering the information, then realizing that it was how long we had left in the battle. I ducked another creature, flipping my knife and slicing its neck, shoving it away as if fell on me. I glanced over to my master fighting against the relentless amount of real illusions Mammon was creating around himself. My eyes then flickered to Mukuro, who met mine momentarily, stumbling back.
My eyes widened, seeing the jaws of a monster close in around his arm.
"Mukuro!" I screamed, watching as he ripped himself away, his face contorted in pain. Kyoya looked over at me, having witnessed the same thing. A grim understanding passed between us, and he scowled hating the idea but going along with it anyway.
I went to Mukuro's side immediately and kneeled next to him, the illusionist himself having stabbed the creature that took him arm with his trident. I grabbed what was left of his arm, barely watching as Kyoya relentlessly fought off monsters around us, distracting them as I tended to Mukuro. Using rain flames, I stopped the bleeding as much as I could, lessening the pain.
"Look…" Mukuro muttered. I shook my head, shushing him.
"Don't waste your energy talking," I told him quickly. He shook his head, looking over at me with determined, angry eyes, before repeating himself.
"Look," He said harshly, indicating with his head. I hesitated, then followed his line of sight, surprised to see Squalo and Xanxus fighting off the creatures as well.
"Voi!" Squalo yelled out, slashing the monsters left and right, "What the fuck, Mammon?!"
"They can't control it," Mukuro explained, now looking at Mammon, "not with just one glove, at least. That's why they sent that thing after me, but they lost control of that too."
I glanced over, seeing Mammon scowling, the flames on their glove flickering. They were no longer making their creations, but instead, backing away from them, as if they were afraid as well.
I narrowed my eyes, noticing my master's lips moving, but not being able to hear form this distance. I glanced around once more, luckily not seeing Bel, Adel, Lussuria, or Levi, hoping that they had found a secure place.
"What do we do?" I asked, almost hopelessly. Mukuro shuddered violently and my grip tightened on him, supporting him.
"Your defense," he spit out, "we need it-"
"I don't have it!" I told him, "I only have Kashi-"
"What!?" He said angrily. "Where the fuck is it then?" I opened my mouth to explain, but was distracted as the elevator to the floor dinged, causing Mukuro and I to look over at it.
I blinked in surprise as an oversized and very drunk looking Jian nearly popped out of it, Skull falling out and rolling right alongside of him. The small Arcobaleno shook his head, and then surveyed the chaos of the room.
"What the hell is happening here?!" he yelled out, scrambling backwards. Jian blinked, one of the creatures approaching him curiously. He sniffled, and yawned, managing to push himself up to a sitting position, causing the creature and a few others, to step back a few paces, realizing exactly how large Jian was. The giant panda surveyed the room tiredly, looking rather detached, until his eyes landed on me.
They widened looking over my body. I looked down myself, realizing how much blood had gotten on me, and how little of it was my own. I met Jian's eyes again, which were watering, knowing he believed that I was badly injured. I opened my mouth and stuck out my hand in an attempt to calm him, but that sadness shifted to anger.
Jian bellowed out a roar, causing the few creatures in front of him to skitter back as the panda stood completely on his hind legs. I grabbed Mukuro, pulling him up with me and dove to the side as Jian came down with his paws, sending out large skewers of bamboo in four different directions, impaling numerous of the creatures, and coming in between Mammon and Fon.
Seeing my opportunity, I let go of Mukuro and dove for the bamboo, relief instantly filling me as flames surged through me. Feeling a bit flustered I pushed myself away, nearly brimming with new energy. Pushing myself up other the wall, seeing Skull still at the elevator as Jian rampaged through the room, taking out most the creatures, allowing Squalo to attack Dino once more and Xanxus and Hibari to continue their fight, both with bloodthirsty smirks plastered on their faces.
"Find Adel and get out of here!" I yelled toward Skull, who looked over at me in surprise.
"Already ahead of you!" Skull said, waving frantically as he began to run, "I've done my part! As soon as I find that bitch, the great Skull is out!" I jumped back down, turning back to Mukuro.
"We need to take care of Mammon," I told him, then asked, "What's the time?" Mukuro gave me a deadpan look, then gestured down to him missing arm.
"Oh," I stated, then pushed myself up the wall again. I released my own bamboo momentarily, then put it right back before he could see my watch.
"Five minutes," I told him.
"That means that Mammon's time should be running out abou-"
His eyes widened and he dove forward, pushing me against the wall as a giant worm-like creature tore through, shattering the bamboo. I took Mukuro and rolled with him, dodging as the giant went after us. I prepared to move again, only for my master to kick the animal away. He frowned, seeing that it was not a killing blow.
"Mammon created that just before their time ran out," He told us, bracing himself once more, "but I can finished it off qui-" He was cut off midsentence as his own time ran out, and he fell onto the ground, blinking in surprise.
"Ah," He muttered looking down at himself. Mukuro and I looked over at the large creature, who seemed to be angry at the blows Fon had dealt it.
"Oh, look," Mukuro said humorlessly, "you've made it angry."
"The gloves nearly burst into flames right after Mammon created it," my master informed us, backing away as well and moving quickly when it sprung. Mukuro winced as I tightened my grip on him, and we turned once more, seeing that the thing had taken out a large chuck of the wall, and that its body was falling into a bit of the floor below, it's weight cracking it.
"The gloves couldn't take their power," Mukuro stated, continuing the conversation.
"If the gloves are out, then why that thing is still there?" I pointed out. Mukuro scowled in response.
"The objects created with the gloves are brought into reality, and depending on how much power is put into it, they stay until they fade," Mukuro explained quickly, as I scanned the creature. I nodded to Mukuro, making sure he could stand on his own before releasing him, going to a box on my hip and opening it.
I lifted my crossbow and began shooting, trying to find its weak spots. I frowned, realizing that its outer skin was extremely resistant, my arrows having a hard time penetrating it. We jumped back as it writhed in anger, destroying the floor around it as it went after us. Behind us, I heard Squalo yell in frustration, the monster having disturbed his fight with Dino, forcing them back as well.
I turned, seeing Xanxus and Kyoya fighting a little ways behind us, the small remains of a wall the only barrier between us. I saw Jian tearing through the last of the smaller creatures, now a little bit larger than normal. He noticed me and quickly padded over, bringing me something in his mouth. Mukuro's eyes twitched.
"Is that my arm in your box weapon's mouth?" He asked, using his trident to stand straight. I looked up, noticing the creature had stilled, feeling its attention on me. I blinked, coming to a realization, and forming a very crude plan.
"We're going to kill it," I said, looking over at Mukuro and holding his arm out to him almost as an offering. He raised a single eyebrow at my statement. I turned slightly to Dino and Squalo.
"You guys can keep fighting," I told them, nodding, then gestured at Mukuro and myself with his arm, "we'll take care of this thing." Dino gave me an unsure, worried look, and opened his mouth to refuse, only to be forced to defend against Squalo.
"If you say so, brat," Squalo acknowledged before continuing his fight. My heart fluttered a bit, realizing that he was completely trusting me with this. Mukuro broke me out of my thoughts.
"And how are we going to handle this, little Cavallone, with only," he glanced at his watch, still impressively intact on his severed hand, "three minutes."
"Oh, trust me," I reassured him, grabbing his arm back, causing him to stiffen, "my plan will only take about thirty seconds."
"Oh? And your plan is?" He asked.
"This," I said simply, grabbing his arm and waving it in the air, looking over at the creature, which was already about to pounce. As it moved, I met eyes with Mukuro and pulled him towards me, his eyes narrowing, understanding immediately what I was doing. He managed to roll his eyes, mutter something snarky and lift up in trident just in time, as the monster's mouth nearly enveloped us.
I put my other hand on the shaft of the trident on well and lifted it up with him, the tip catching on the soft flesh of the inside of the monster's mouth and tearing through easily. I pulled Mukuro closer, making ourselves as thin as possible, the teeth tearing at my exposed shoulder. Blood covered us, and then the flesh hit us, humming with life and thriving, and then the life slowly drain out of it.
I felt Mukuro stiffen, then squirm. I pushed my hand through, finding it to be on the outside of the worm along with the trident, then proceeded to shimmy out of the corpses, pulling Mukuro and his arm up as well. I checked both my watch and his after pulling our upper halves up, gasping a bit for breath. I nearly rolled off of its corpse while Mukuro slid down, stumbling a bit when he hit the ground.
"You," he said, flicking his hand before turning to grab his arm, "couldn't have possibly thought of a less disgusting plan that this?"
"Well, sorry," I snapped, "if this was the only way I could think of killing it when I noticed its skin was nearly impossible to get through from the outside. It was your gloves that made that thing in the first place!"
"You're the one who tore my glove off," he pointed out, pointing his arm at me.
"Why the fuck does this thing even have blood and guts anyway," I accused, he opened his mouth to respond, but then wavered, swaying. My eyes widened and I rushed forward catching him easily when he swayed from blood loss. I might have numbed it with my flames earlier, but that couldn't stop it completely from bleeding.
We met eyes, tired, and drained eyes that have probably seen too much.
He chuckled a bit, his head drooping and swaying lightly. I blinked, then let out a soft giggle as well, allowing us to fall to our knees.
Jian roared, causing us to stop and look up. My eyes narrowed, seeing that Squalo and Dino had paused their fight, watching the outcome of Hibari and Xanxus's, along with Fon, who had found his way to Dino's side. My eyes widened, seeing what they were about to do.
"Jian! Defense now!" I called up, making sure to bring Mukuro closer to me as Jian closed the distance between us, slamming his paws on the ground and forming a dome of bamboo around us. I could only hope that Dino and Squalo, and wherever Bel, Lussuria, and Levi where, were okay, having confidence that they could take after themselves.
I winced, feeling flames press against the outside of my defense, knowing Jian was going to be considerably smaller after this. I breathed out when the attack ended, allowing Jian to let the bamboo fall.
Mukuro and I blinked, looking around at the charred remains of the floor. I looked over, surprised to see the corpse of the creature heavily damaged, and then focused on the only other figures standing, now completely out in the open since they destroyed about everything else on the level. Bel whistled loudly, jumping from a nearby building and back onto the cleared floor.
"Woah," He called out, looking around as he dropped Lussuria and Levi, "the entire floor got blown away." I tilted my head, then looked over to one side, hearing Squalo and Dino's voices. I sighed in relief, seeing them jump back onto the roof, along with the two arcobaleno. Squalo's eyes widened.
"Hibari is fine?!"
"And the watch is okay too?!" Mammon continued in disbelief.
"Xanxus had to change the trajectory of the attack in order to protect his own boss watch," Fon explained, grinning and looking over at Mukuro and me, relieved to see that I was okay.
"Although that Xanxus," Dino said, relieved as well, eyes flickering back to his student, "did well to protect the watch on his right hand in a split second." We all stiffened, a loud sound resonating from out watches.
"The match is over!"
"Oh thank god," I breathed out, slumping a bit.
"I won't accept it," Kyoya said, causing all of us to look over at him. "I'm not satisfied, unless we settle this." Mukuro chuckled lightly from my side, eyes lit up in amusement.
"That won't do! Hohoho!"
"That's Tsunomichi!" Dino identified the voice coming from Kyoya's watch.
""In the battle of the representatives, it is strictly forbidden to fight fellow representatives outside of the allocated time!" the voice continued, "If you insist on fighting, both teams will be disqualified, fuffu!" Kyoya glared down at the watch.
"You be quiet."
"Huh…?" Tsunomichi questioned, clearly confused, "It's not matter of what I say…since it's the rule… hehe." I sighed, and pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing what Kyoya was about to do right before he did it.
Everyone stared in shock and horror as Kyoya destroyed his own watch with his tonfa. Even Mukuro raised an eyebrow, humming with interest.
"That's one gone," He said indifferently, looking up at Xanxus. Dino stepped forward, gesturing at the remains of the watch.
"You... do you realize what you just did?!" my brother argued. Fon chuckled lightly, looking over at me in amusement. I huffed, shaking my head as a desperate plea.
"I will fight," Kyoya said, baring his tonfas at Xanxus once more, "when I want to." Xanxus stared at him, then let out a robust laugh.
"Same here!" He sneered, moving to shoot his own watch, "For this thing!" I blinked, watching Xanxus get tackled by his own subordinates. I looked over at Mukuro, who was chuckling at their actions.
"A rowdy group, aren't they?" he asked. I sighed, then looked down at his arm, still in my lap.
"You want me to reattach this?" I asked softly. He blinked, then looked over at me.
"You would do that?"
"Yeah," I nodded, my blood covered hand going to one of my pouches, bringing out one of the stools of thread and a needle, "Varrick designed this sun thread that c-"
"You would do that?" He repeated again, firmly. I wavered, then nodded almost shakily. He stared at me, then shouldered the remains of his jacket off. I sighed, pulling out a small medical kit and beginning to wipe away the blood from Mukuro's stump of an arm.
"Luckily there's still enough of a connection to salvage," I told him, feeling almost isolated and cut off from the other loud group as I tended to the illusionist.
"Is that so?" He muttered, clearly distant and not thinking of his own appendage.
"It can heal," I told him, not looking him in the eyes as he winced with every incision of thread, lacing this arm back together, using my teeth at times to tighten the thread since my arm was still severely injured. I paused before putting my hand on the stitches, the arm hanging limply from his body, not yet fully connected.
"You may want to cast an illusion on yourself," I told him, "or bite down on something." He glanced over at me.
"Will it hurt?"
"You have no idea." He nodded in response, and took a breath, closing his eyes. I closed my eyes myself, relying completely on the sense of my gloves as I made sure every detail was reattached. His muscles flexed suddenly, causing me to lean back in surprise. He let out a ragged breath, his head whipping to his now reattached arm.
"You were right," he said, letting a breath out, sneering, "that did hurt."
"But the pain is worth an arm, right?" I asked, smiling up at him softly as he stood, flexing his arm a bit. His eyes shifted back to me, almost curiously.
"Yes," he admitted, nodding a bit, "I suppose it is worth it." He turned suddenly, walking to the edge. "I should get back to my team," he explained, not looking back.
"Mukuro," I called quickly, standing abruptly, then cradling my arm, having accidentally used it to push myself up. He barely turned his head in acknowledgement.
"I won't say thank you," I told him plainly.
"And I won't apologize," he reminded me.
"So we're clear?" I asked, holding back a waver. He tilted his head, and then let out a chuckle before disappearing in a flurry of mist. I let out a soft sigh, watching him leave me once again.
"Nikita, help me with him!" Dino yelled over at me, causing me to snap back to reality. I turned around and walked over, Jian padding at my side, allowing me, wanting me to keep a hand on his back. I stared blankly, seeing Kyoya ready to tear into Dino, and Xanxus still being suppressed by Lussuria and Squalo.
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked Dino, watching as Bel nearly bounced over to my side.
"How am I supposed to know?" Dino yelled, holding his hands up, "you were his teammate, right? And you got him on your team," he addressed Fon, "shouldn't you have some reaction after watching your own representative break your boss watch?" Fon held up a hand in peace, smiling up at Dino.
"I assure you, everything is fine," my master said, then sent a smile over at me, ignoring my head shakings, "thanks to Nikita's careful and initiative planning, my team is still very much in the game."
This caused everyone to pause, and glance over at me. I grumbled, running a hand through my bloodied hair, and then glancing at my master in irritation.
"What the hell, master!" I complained, sighing and slumping slightly, "Are you really ratting me out?" I grumbled again, seeing his simple smile in response, knowing that I had to reveal it eventually. I held up my wrist, letting the bamboo around the watch absorb into flames, returning to me once again and revealing the watch on my wrist.
"I had the boss watch the whole battle," I admitted, pointedly avoiding Kyoya's eyes.
"What the hell?!" Squalo said, releasing Xanxus and stepping forward, "But he was wearing the boss watch!" He gestured to Kyoya, who was extremely tense and glaring at me, confusion in his eyes. I shrugged a bit, rolling my shoulders.
"Well," I started, "that's not exactly true…." I gestured lightly with my good arm, kneeling down and whistling lightly. Kyoya step back, nearly jumping out of his stiffened posture and flicking the small animal that had revealed itself from his sleeve.
"Dayita let me borrow Aashi," I explained, poking the incredible small snake on the nose as it slithered over to me, letting it crawl into my hand and then placing it on my shoulder, "so it was a small, nearly undetectable illusion around his watch." I leaned back, folding my arms behind me.
"I thought this was the best bet, since I felt like something like this," I gestured with my head at Kyoya's broken watch, "might happen. And it did." Squalo raised an eyebrow, looking impressed. Bel snickered, throwing on arm around me.
"How sly of you, princess~" He chimed. I looked back at Kyoya who was glaring at me, nearly scandalized. Something flashed in his eyes before he turned on his heel, storming away. Confusion? Betrayal? I frowned, wanting to go after him and apologize, but knew better.
"He just needs space," Fon assured me, voicing my thoughts. Dino sighed, running a hand through his hair before turning to me.
"You okay?" He looked me over, grimacing, "I can't tell what's your blood and what isn't…"
"I'm fine," I assured him, despite leaning into Bel a little. He looked after Kyoya walking away and I sighed, knowing what he was going to do. "He needs space," I called after Dino as he followed Kyoya.
"I'm his tutor!" He called back over his shoulder, "It's my job to talk to him when he's like this!" Fon and I sighed in union, watching my brother go. I scrunched my nose, looking down at myself again.
"I feel disgusting," I told Bel, who snickered in response, leaning to whisper in my ear.
"I don't know, princess, I think it's kind of hot" I looked over at him, pushing his face away and smearing blood on it. This only made amused him more, which of course, caused me to laugh as well. I winced again, being reminded of my arm, along with the various other injuries on my body. My eyes reviewed the Varia once more, watching Xanxus grumble irritably and put his guns away now that his opponent had left.
"You want me to heal you?" I asked Squalo, seeing that he was the most scuffed up.
"What the fuck?!" He reprimanded, glaring over at me, "We're your fucking enemies, brat!" I shrugged, gesturing over to Jian.
"Yeah, but Jian has more than enough flames," I said shrugging, causing Squalo to nearly growl. I laughed, waving my hand dismissively as he stepped towards me menacingly. He stopped in his tracks, looking down at his watch as it beeped. I frowned, doing the same as Fon jumped on top of Jian's head. Bel leaned closer to me, looking at my watch since his was broken.
"Allow me to explain," a vaguely familiar voice called out from the speakers. I looked over, watching my master tense, a terse frown on his face. "Good job on completing the second day of the representative battle of the rainbow. I will begin with the second day's battle results." I blinked as the hologram appeared again, showing the results. Bel whistled.
"Looks like your team is way ahead of everyone else, princess," Bel commented, pointing out the number of people we defeated.
"That's all Kyoya," I said with the tilt of my head, "I've only taken out two." I looked back at the image, confused to see it changing to a picture. A shiver ran through my spine as I recognized the group.
"The hell…?" Squalo muttered, "The Vindice?"
"Third from the right," Fon pointed out, looking at the same image from his watch, "riding on the Vindice's shoulder!"
"Who is that?!" Mammon asked.
"His name is Bermuda Von Vichtenstein," the voice answered, "He is a man who was once the absolute strongest Arcobaleno. Furthermore, due to a little blunder, he is now under the same curse as you Skull-kun's watches," I stiffened at this, paling, now concerned, "he has appeared accompanied by the 7 Vindice. He only has one goal…."
Another voice interrupted, chuckling.
"You understand quite well, don't you Checker-Face?"
"Especially concerning your desire, Bermuda," Checker-Face answered back coolly. "I am being lenient, after all."
"Then I won't hold back," the other voice, who was obviously Bermuda, answered back. "We, as the 8th team, will be participating in the Representative Battle." A wave of shock ran through the group as the transmission ended, leaving a cold silence. Squalo broke that silence.
"If they're participating, things will get interesting," Squalo noted with a sneer, "you'd better be prepared." I blinked, broken out of my shock, a cold chill running down my spine. I sighed, and shook my head.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," I muttered, causing Fon to frown.
"You should heal yourself, Nikita," he noticed, looking at my arm. I blinked, looking down at it, having forgotten it. I sighed, running a hand through my hair then grimacing, flicking some blood away.
"I think I need to take a long, nice shower first," I told him, still uncomfortable with the amount of blood on me.
"You better hope the pipes are working after this," Bel chided, grinning and gesturing to the destroyed top level. I huffed, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"I'm totally blaming you if they don't, Bel," I told him, poking him the chest as I walked by, Jian padding after me with Fon still on his head. Lichi chattered happily, making a nice, small nest for himself in one of the few clean spots in Jian's fur. Bel snickered in response, but Squalo looked over at me and stepped in my path.
"Voi, brat!" He called. He paused, as if thinking, then spoke again, "I've got to talk to you about something." I waved him off a bit apologetically, and side stepped him.
"Sorry, Squalo," I said, walking backwards, "But I have to run if I want to clean myself up first," I sighed, looking over at Aashi, who had wrapped himself around my arm. I smiled, poking him lightly on the nose again, causing his tongue to dart out.
"After all," I told the small box weapon, "I've got to get you back to your owner."
"Slow down, brat," Dayita said irritably, grabbing Fran by his collar and forcibly tugging him back to her side. He frowned, looking back up at her.
"It's not my fault," He said, almost pouting, "I just want to see Bahin."
"And you will see her," Dayita drawled, rolling her eyes at his childish behavior, "when she comes back to the hotel after meeting up with me." She stopped abruptly, pulling him back again. She pointed in the direction of the hotel.
"So," she said, forcing a smile, "go that way."
"Why can't I come with you and see her sooner," Fran asked, not moving.
"Because," Dayita chattered, keeping her beautiful fake smile, "I have to go to a meeting right after this, and would rather spend the least amount of time with you as possible."
"I'm hurt, Shikshikaa," he said blandly, "I thought that a teacher and student were supposed to have a supportive relationship."
"Not when the teacher has a little prick like you for a student," she said happily, forcibly poking him in the forehead. The boy frowned, rubbing his abused forehead, then sighing.
"What am I supposed to do until Bahin gets back?" he asked his teacher. She shrugged indifferently.
"Entertain yourself," she provided, inspecting her nails as she waited impatiently for him to leave, "Why should I care? Annoy the Varia," she suggested with a flicking her hand, "Nike told me they were staying in the same building. Perhaps they'll kill you so I don't have to." Fran blinked, thinking back.
"Those tooth decay fungi, huh?" He murmured, before nodding, deciding. "Yeah, I guess I could pay them a visit while I wait. I'm sure they'd love to see me again. I'm a joy to be around." Dayita hummed in a bored manner, shooing him off.
"Of course they would," she said, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him in the direction he was meant to go, "you're an absolute ray of sunshine. Now, scram."
"See ya, Shikshikaa," He called, raising a hand as he went on his way.
"Remember to play in the middle of busy streets. Run with scissors," She called after him, before turning herself, moving along to her own destination. She cooed, putting her hands on her cheeks, her mood changing immediately as she began gushing.
"Now that that annoying kid is gone, I can have Nike all to myself," she said almost dreamily, nearly skipping done the road. "I just can't wait to see her!"
The girl laughed loudly, pushing Bel back as they stood in front of the doors of the hotel.
"No way," she said, turning her back and crossing her arms, "am I letting you come with me. I've dealt with enough shit today, and I do not need to deal with you and Dayita going at each other throats." He held up his arms in mock innocence.
"What do mean princess?" He said, grinning wildly, "I'm perfectly civil." She snorted, turning to poke him in the chest.
"There's nothing civil about you, Bel," she reminded him, smiling. He held back a frown, eyes going to her previously hurt arm, scanning over the bandages. She had neglected, he remembered, healing it completely, and simply mended the bones, leaving the flesh to heal naturally. However, he didn't blame her, having watched himself her face contort in pain while she healed the bone.
"You know what Squalo wanted to talk to me about?" she asked, drawing his attention back to her. She crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly, causing her dampened, long hair to swing slightly with the movements.
"No idea," he said smugly. Her expression deadpanned.
"Liar," She accused knowingly. She pointed at him as she made her way out, pushing the door open with her back, "I'll annoy you more about this later," she warned the prince, before turning completely out to the streets, waving a hand as a farewell.
"See ya, Bel," She yelled back, smiling again.
There was a slight skip in her step as she walked, the extra flames from Jian having rejuvenated her, despite the fatigue from the fight. She frowned and shook her head, dismissing the thoughts of blood and gore. The snake on her arm shifted, causing her to look over at.
"Don't worry," she told it gently as she turned, moving into far more deserted streets, eventually walking completely alone due to how late at night it was. "We're going to meet up with Dayita soon," she reassured it. She stopped suddenly as the snake bristled.
Alarm bells rang in her head as she felt flames. She girl spun around, and stepped back, watching as an inky portal opened in the air behind her. She dove out of the way as a chain erupted from it, nearly shattering the pavement where she had been standing.
Nikita's eyes flickered to her watch, confused at the sudden attack and wondering if she had simply missed the signal. She paled, realizing that she still had the boss watch, having secured it to her wrist after her shower without thinking. She looked back as one of the Vindice figures, the one with visible hair, emerge completely out of the portal, turning its head to seemingly stare at the girl.
Nikita's own eyes hardened, realizing quickly what this was; an out of bounds fight, a sly tactic, a cowards' way of winning. He wasn't wearing a battle watch himself, and therefore was following the rules of the battles.
Nikita slammed her hand down, pumping her flames into Jian's ring. Bamboo erupted to life in front of her as Jager slung more chains at the girl. Unnoticed to either of them, Aashi slipped off of Nikita's arm and onto the street, quickly making its way away from the battle.
Nikita scowled, rolling out of the way and letting out a ragged breath as her bamboo shield shattered, taking a majority of her flames. She patted herself down as she continued moving, barely dodging his relentless attacks, one even coming close enough and with enough force to take off a large chunk of her hair as she dodged, realizing that the only weapons she had on her were her box animals. She brought up more bamboo, effectively shielding herself as the chains embedded themselves into its surface before securing them there with another layer.
As her opponent was distracted, Nikita summoned Kashi, the red panda forming from sun flames, it's form jumping from her hand and to the ground in front of her.
"Go back, find Bel!" She told it quickly, ignoring its worried look. Nikita breathed in sharply, turning around to see Jager warp behind her, wrapping a chain around her ankle and pulling back. Kashi cried out as her owner's forehead roughly hit the ground as she was dragged back.
"Go!" Nikita managed to demand, sending the animal running off before she was yanked harshly back, thrown into a wall and cracking it. Nikita slammed her hand into the ground as she fell, sending a strong stream of bamboo at Jager, who warped, wrapping more another chain around the girl's shoulder, throwing her again, and tearing into her body with the force of the pull.
He scoffed, seeing her blood drip onto the ground she pushed herself up once more, clutching her wrists to her chest. She sacrificed her own body in order to protect the watch, he noted coldly, despite the amount of severe damage it did, nearly tearing off her own shoulder, along with a large gushing, wound along most of her abdomen.
"Foolish girl," Jager chided coldly, reeling his arm back for the final attack. A flit of cold pity went through him, knowing that the girl should have given up the watch while she had the chance.
He flicked his arm forward easily, sending the end of his chain through the girl's wrists, knowing it penetrated her heart as well. He retracted the chain, allowing the girl's body to fall lifelessly to the ground. He lifted his chin, inspecting the body, seeing the glass of the shattered watch in the blood seeping out from the corpse. He nodded once, and turned, stepping back into an inky portal and disappearing.
There was a moment of silence, complete and holy.
Then, the image shifted, contorted almost. In a flurry of mist, some of the damages of the battle disappeared, and in turn, revealed another figure, cradling the head of Nikita. They sat, almost on the opposite side of where Jager had seemingly killed the girl.
Dayita let out a shaky breath, before moving glaring eyes away from where the portal had been. She softened, tears on the verge of welling as she stroked the younger's girls hair, her head gently resting in Dayita's lap.
"Nike? Nikita?" she whispered softly, looking down at the girl's closed, resting eyes. Dayita ignored the blood seeping onto her own clothes, she ignored, refused to look at the terrible wound raking across the younger girl's body, reaching from her left hip to her right shoulder, her midsection nearly torn open, her shoulder nearly torn off.
"Nikita, darling," Dayita spoke again, louder, "please, wake up." Dayita's shaky hand went from stroking the girl's face gently, to her blood splattered neck, a sob wrecking through the illusionist as her hand limply fell away.
She couldn't feel a pulse.
"Let's go in the garden
You'll find something waiting
Right there where you left it
Lying upside down
When you finally find it
You'll see how it's faded
The underside is lighter
When you turn it around
Everything stays
Right where you left it
Everything stays
But it still changes
Ever so slightly
Daily and nightly
In little ways
When everything stays"
- Rebecca Sugar (Adventure Time: Everything Stays)
AN:
At this point, I feel like I'm gonna get snowed in forever, because another day of classes got cancelled, leading me to being able to post this. Whoo!
Review Response:
Guest (Chapter 21): It's really funny that you bring that up now, because this will be an issue that will come up very soon. Thanks for the review!
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!
-Evenly